Nominated MP Johnson Sakaja is the winner of the 2016 Africa change-maker award.
The Africa Achievers Award honours movers and shakers from across the continent, including politicians and industry captains.
This year’s ceremony will be held in Abuja, Nigeria, on July 8.
Mr Sakaja is being feted for his role in shaping the youth agenda in Kenya.
“This is in recognition of your leadership skills and youth empowerment in Kenya. Your standing belief in the young generations and their potentials has made you a remarkable change maker,” reads the letter from the organisers.
Mr Sakaja has been instrumental in formulating laws aimed at empowering the youth in Kenya.
He championed the enactment of a law to implement the government’s policy of allocating 30 per cent of all government tenders to youth, women and people with disabilities.
He also sponsored the National Employment Authority Act, which aims to ensure unemployed and qualified Kenyans have easy access to jobs.
The Act provides a legal framework for the State to take affirmative measures to ensure youth and marginalised groups access employment and economic empowerment.
It establishes an authority that will assume the functions of the National Employment Bureau, whose mandate is to maintain a database for all jobless youth to facilitate their employment.
Past recipients of the award include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former Malawi President Joyce Banda and African Union Commission Chairman Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
-nation.co.ke
