City MP wins award for setting up scholarship
Kibra MP Kenneth Okoth has been awarded for humanitarian service to children in his constituency.
The legislator received the Sol Feinstone Award at the St Lawrence University in New York for his role in the empowerment of children through education.
The Sol Feinstone award recognises people’s efforts to ease pain and uplift oppressed people in society.
Mr Okoth represents a poverty stricken constituency in which despair abounds, given the living conditions Kibera slums.
In 2006, the MP started the Children of Kibra Foundation, which provides scholarships for pupils to join national and provincial secondary schools.
The foundation also established nine computer laboratories in schools through the KiberaOnline initiative, mentorship and an annual Kibra Performing Arts Festival.
“The recognition is very important to me and the people of Kibra. It is an impetus to do more to rid the area of illiteracy and poverty,” he said on the phone from Boston where he had made courtesy call on former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
According to St Lawrence University website, the award is given ‘to a graduate who, through devotion of his or her resources or personal effort, has demonstrated deep commitment to help people pursue and attain personal, professional and economic freedom.’
Mr Okoth will be given his award on May 30 at a ceremony in the university.