By Prudence Minayo
Nixon Korir is a young Kenyan politician currently serving as the Member of Parliament for Langata constituency, the first Kalenjin to be elected in this constituency. His political journey perhaps started at the university when he served as a congressman and later as the Student Organization of Nairobi University (SONU)secretary.
He is the founding chairman of the United Republican Party (URP), where he is still a member. The Langata Member of Parliament is also allied to the deputy president William Ruto.
Education
From 1990 to 2000, he attended Oldebes Primary School where he sat for his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).
He attended Moi high school Kabarak where he sat for the national examinations in 2004.
He then joined the University of Nairobi in 2006 to study law. The legislator graduated from the University of Nairobi in 2011 with a law degree.
In 2007, while he was still a student at the University of Nairobi, he served as a congressman. In 2008, he became secretary General of the Students Organization of Nairobi University (SONU).
Career
In 2010, he was the national youth leader of the No camp which was headed by deputy president William Ruto. This was during the referendum to either reject or pass the current Kenyan Constitution. Eventually, it was the YES team headed by ODM party leader Raila Odinga that won the referendum. He was also employed in Eldoret North Constituency as a personal assistant to the member of parliament until 2012 when he joined URP.
During the 2013 general elections, he vied for the Langata parliamentary seat but was unsuccessful as the position was won by ODM’s Joash Olum.
From 2014, he worked at the office of the deputy president as a secretary in youth affairs.
In 2017, he vied for the Langata parliamentary seat once again under the Jubilee party ticket and this time he won.
The young MP has also worked as secretary youth affairs where he was involved in oversight of youth-related functions of the government of Kenya, such as:
- Uwezo fund
- Youth Enterprise development
- The national youth service
- The Kenya National volunteers program
Marriage
The member of parliament is married to Beryl Zoraima. The two got married just a day after the wedding of investigative journalist Denis Okari and Naomi.
The invite only ceremony was held at the Karen Blixen Museum. The joyous occasion was attended by family members and top politicians in the country.
Covid-19
Korir has been among the prominent people in the country to test positive for the Covid-19 virus. The legislator tested positive for the virus late last year and was released from the hospital to go home for further recovery.
“I tested positive for Covid-19 three weeks ago but I have been quarantined and isolating. I will be doing the other test tomorrow,” he was quoted by the Star.
He had not been admitted to hospital as some bloggers had published.
Trivia
A number of elections have been going on around the country, some of which have been marred with a great deal of violence. Early this month in Nakuru county, chaos ensued at Milimani Primary School polling station in London ward after a number of youths accused MP Nixon Korir of bribing voters. During the fracas, three journalists were injured, Korir’s car was smashed and police had to use teargas to disassemble the rowdy youths. Nakuru elections manager Silas Rotich ordered Nixon and other leaders allied to the MP out of the polling center. When they resisted, they were chased away by teargas.
