{"id":28109,"date":"2017-12-07T17:30:25","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T16:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/?p=28109"},"modified":"2018-02-01T09:50:05","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T08:50:05","slug":"100-most-influential-africans-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/100-most-influential-africans-list\/","title":{"rendered":"100 Most Influential Africans: Ten Kenyans Including CJ David Maraga Listed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The list of 100 Most Influential Africans for the year 2017\u00a0has been published by\u00a0The New African Magazine<\/a>\u00a0and among the numerous people who made the list are ten Kenyans including\u00a0Chief Justice David Maraga.<\/p>\n

The magazine which began operations five years ago,\u00a0announced its 2017 100 Most Influential Africans list on\u00a0Wednesday, December 6, celebrating 100 most influential Africans who helped shape the year.<\/p>\n

This year’s list samples individuals from all sectors including business, politics, music, sports, and other industries,\u00a0whose work has contributed to transforming lives beyond\u00a0their main calling. The effects of this transformation, the\u00a0magazine\u2019s Editor explained, is seen in form of\u00a0change of perception or provision of inspiration to others.<\/p>\n

While nineteen personalities from the English-speaking part of Africa made the list,\u00a012 from the French-speaking part found their way there and unlike other years when there was usually a wide gender gap, the 2017 list features 42\u00a0women\u00a0as opposed to 58 men.<\/p>\n

Read Also:\u00a07 Most Influential And Stylish Reigning African First Ladies<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of these men is the Chief\u00a0Justice and President of the\u00a0Supreme Court of Kenya,\u00a0David Maraga<\/strong>, who made the list because of the landmark ruling in September which nullified the August 8 presidential election.<\/p>\n

Magara did something that has never been done in Africa by being courageous enough to pass judgment against the man who appointed him, President Uhuru Kenyatta, in favour of an opposition. By this singular action, he restored the faith of Kenyans in the independence of the judiciary.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0appeared\u00a0as the 6th most influential person in the Politics and Public Service category, after the King of Morocco Mohammed VI.<\/p>\n

Judge Maraga\u00a0was officially appointed to the position on 19 October 2016 and will be retiring on 12th January 2021\u00a0upon the attainment of 70 years as clearly stated in the country’s constitution.<\/p>\n

Also on the\u00a0Politics and Public Service category is\u00a0the first woman from North Eastern to be elected to Parliament,\u00a0Sophia Abdi Noor<\/strong>, who is listed in the eight position. She took over the\u00a0Ijara constituency seat in 2007, under the Orange Democratic Movement. This was after she polled 6,001 votes,\u00a0narrowly defeating her\u00a0closest opponent-\u00a0incumbent Ahmed Ibrahim Abass- with almost 300 votes.<\/p>\n

Before the victory of Mrs Noor, no woman from the\u00a0North East has ever been elected to any political position since Kenya’s independence, simply because communities in the region\u00a0held conservative views on\u00a0women leadership as a result of their\u00a0religious and cultural belief.<\/p>\n

Besides being a force to reckon with in the political sphere, the former teacher is also a founder member of\u00a0Womankind Kenya<\/em>\u00a0Non-Governmental Organisation that particularly targets women and children.<\/p>\n

See More:\u00a0100 Most Influential People As Disclosed By Time<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prof. Ruth Oniang\u2019o, <\/strong>a nutritionist also made her way to the list of\u00a0100 Most Influential Africans through her commendable effort in driving the transformation of Africa\u2019s agriculture. She is the winner of\u00a0Africa Food Prize 2017.<\/p>\n

Prof Oniang\u2019o is identified as\u00a0Africa’s number one voice\u00a0on nutrition and for tirelessly advocating\u00a0for the availability and affordability of different\u00a0nutritious crops for all Africans.<\/p>\n

For her trailblazing efforts that are improving the social and economic well-being of millions of people in Africa,\u00a0Oniang\u2019o presence on the list is well deserved!<\/p>\n

Tenth on the Business and Finance category of the list is Kenya’s\u00a0James Mworia,\u00a0<\/strong>Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Centum Investments. His rise in corporate Kenya, according to him, is a function of humility and a hunger for personal development.<\/p>\n

James started working as a filing clerk at Centum Investments in 2001\u00a0despite being overqualified. Gradually, he rose from one position to another until 2005 when he became the company’s chief investment officer. By December 2006,\u00a0he quit because he felt Centum was \u201cvery conservative\u201d, and took another job at\u00a0TransCentury Investments\u00a0as its head of investments.<\/p>\n

In 2008, at age 30, the Centum management called James Mworia\u00a0back\u00a0and\u00a0appointed him CEO and MD of the company.\u00a0Within his first six years as CEO, he grew the company’s asset base from KES:6 billion (US$69 million) to roughly KES:30 billion (US$350 million). According to the latest report, he is currently the highest paid chief executive in Kenya with a yearly compensation of Sh201.1 million or Sh16.7 million per month.<\/p>\n

In the Civil Society and Activism category,\u00a0Patrick \u2018PLO\u2019 Lumumba\u00a0<\/strong>came in second\u00a0after Haben Girma who is a deaf-blind Harvard Law graduate and disability rights activist based in Eritrea, Ethiopia and US.<\/p>\n

Known for his excellent oratory skills,\u00a0Lumumba is a defence lawyer and an anti-corruption champ. One of Kenya\u2019s finest legal minds,\u00a0Professor\u00a0Lumumba is a\u00a0former Director of\u00a0Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission. He served in the position for less than one year before being dismissed\u00a0under controversial circumstances. Within the short period he served, he fearlessly tried to flush out corruption but was faced with too many fierce forces that he could not overpower. For this, he will always be remembered.<\/p>\n

Lumumba is also a very loyal and committed Pan-Africanist and is popular across many countries for his eloquent delivery of many powerful speeches indirectly calling attention to or about African solutions to African problems.<\/p>\n

He is presently\u00a0the Director of The Kenya School of Laws since 2014.<\/p>\n

Ninth on the Science, Tech and Innovation category is Yvonne Mburu,\u00a0<\/strong>the\u00a0co-founder of Med in Africa,\u00a0an online platform that brings\u00a0together African scientists and healthcare professionals all over the world. The platform provides ease of collaboration between African scientists and health professionals at home and those in the diaspora. Its major aim is to ensure that there is a unified voice for the advancement of healthcare, science, and education in Africa, no matter the location of these African professionals.<\/p>\n

Others on the list of Kenyans 100 Most Influential Africans for 2017 are\u00a0TV host Julie Gichuru<\/strong> in the media category,\u00a0Elijah Manangoi,<\/strong>\u00a0Hellen Obiri<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Faith Kipyegon<\/strong>\u00a0in the sports category.<\/p>\n

Read Again:\u00a0Top 15 Most Corrupt African Countries<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"100<\/p>\n

Across Africa<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nigeria has the highest number of individuals on the list, closely followed by South Africa.<\/p>\n

Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote (Nigeria), businessman Mohammed Dewji (Tanzania) were named once more in the Business and Finance category, alongside newcomers Isabel dos Santos and Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais, both from Angola.<\/p>\n

Ghana\u2019s Nana Akufo-Addo, Rwanda\u2019s Paul Kagame and President Alpha Conde of Guinea are the only three heads of states who made the list.<\/p>\n

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo featured in the Politics and Public Service category.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The list of 100 Most Influential Africans for the year 2017\u00a0has been published by\u00a0The New African Magazine\u00a0and among the numerous people who made the list are ten Kenyans including\u00a0Chief Justice David Maraga. The magazine which began operations five years ago,\u00a0announced its 2017 100 Most Influential Africans list on\u00a0Wednesday, December 6, celebrating 100 most influential Africans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271,"featured_media":28110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[75],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/CJ-Maraga1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3CBUr-7jn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buzzkenya.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}