Amason Kingi
{{Short description|Kenyan politician}}
{{Use Kenyan English|date=January 2023}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
| name = Amason Kingi
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=KEN|size=100%|EGH}}
| image =
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| order =
| office = 3rd Speaker of the Kenyan Senate
| term_start = 8 September 2022
| term_end =
| predecessor = Kenneth Lusaka
| successor = |
| office2 = 1st Governor of Kilifi County
| term_start2 = 27 March 2013
| term_end2 = 25 August 2022
| predecessor2 = Position established
| successor2 = Gideon Mung'aro
| order3 =
| office3 = Member of the Kenyan Parliament
| term_start3 = 2008
| term_end3 = 2013
| president3 =
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 = Gideon Mung'aro
| constituency3 = Magarini
| majority3 =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1973}}
| birth_place = Magarini Constituency
| birthname =
| nationality = Kenyan
| party = Pamoja African Alliance
| spouse = Liz Kingi
| relations =
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| alma_mater =
| occupation = Politician
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| religion = Christian
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| blank1 =
| data1 =
| otherparty = Kenya Kwanza
| president1 = William Samoei Ruto
}}
Amason Kingi Jeffah {{post-nominals|country=KEN|EGH}} (born 1973{{cite web |title=Senate of Kenya |url=https://data.ipu.org/content/kenya?chamber_id=13439 |website=Parline: the IPU’s Open Data Platform}}) is a Kenyan politician currently serving as the Speaker of the Senate of Kenya. He is a member and leader of the Pamoja African Alliance party, which he founded. The party is part of the Kenya Kwanza alliance. He served as the first governor of Kilifi County from 2013 to 2022, having been elected twice to the position.
He formed his own party, Pamoja African Alliance which later joined the United Democratic Alliance, FORD–Kenya, the Amani National Congress and other small parties to form the Kenya Kwanza alliance, which was elected into government in the 2022 Kenyan general election.{{Cite web |title=Mung'aro beats Aisha Jumwa in Kilifi governor race |url=https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/realtime/2022-08-13-mungaro-beats-aisha-jumwa-in-kilifi-governor-race/ |access-date=2022-08-23 |website=The Star |language=en-KE}}
Career
Kingi studied law and graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1998. As a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), he was elected to represent the Magarini Constituency in parliament during the 2007 Kenyan parliamentary election.[http://www.bunge.go.ke/members.php Members Of The 10th Parliament] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616160507/http://www.bunge.go.ke/members.php|date=16 June 2008}}. Parliament of Kenya. Accessed 19 June 2008. He was elected as the Speaker of the Senate on 8th September 2022 after garnering 46 votes in an election that was boycotted by Azimio la Umoja Senators
His growing reputation was spotted by president Mwai Kibaki and prime minister Raila Odinga, who gave him a position as Minister for the East African Community in the Grand Coalition government that was formed after the 2007 post-election violence.{{Cite web |last=GROUP |first=NTV KENYA-NATION MEDIA |title=NTV Kenya: Who is Amason Jeffah Kingi, the new Senate Speaker? |url=https://ntvkenya.co.ke/news/who-is-amason-jeffah-kingi-the-new-senate-speaker/ |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=NTV Kenya |language=en-GB}} He served as Minister for Fisheries Development from 2010 to 2013.
Kingi ran for and won the governorship of Kilifi County in 2013, and he was reelected in 2017.{{Cite web |title=Hon. Amason J. Kingi, EGH – Kilifi County Government |url=https://kilifi.go.ke/team/amasonkingi/ |access-date=2023-01-19 |language=en-US}} He established the Pamoja African Alliance party in an effort to free coastal Kenya from ODM's control.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-02 |title=Pamoja African Alliance, new parties reaping big ahead of primaries |url=https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/pamoja-african-alliance-new-parties-reaping-big-ahead-of-primaries--3769192 |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=Nation |language=en}} This party originally aligned itself with Azimio la Umoja, which supported Raila Odinga for president, but severed relations with the group in 2022 and joined Kenya Kwanza, which supported William Ruto. Kenya Kwanza and Ruto won the 2022 elections, and Kingi was elected Speaker of the Senate.{{Cite web |title=Lets do more than our predecessors, Senate Speaker urges new Senators {{!}} The Kenyan Parliament Website |url=http://www.parliament.go.ke/index.php/lets-do-more-our-predecessors-senate-speaker-urges-new-senators |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=www.parliament.go.ke}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{County Governors of Kenya}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingi, Amason}}
Category:Speakers of the Senate of Kenya
Category:County governors of Kenya
Category:Orange Democratic Movement politicians
Category:Members of the National Assembly (Kenya)
Category:People from Coast Province
Category:Leaders of political parties in Kenya
Category:Members of the 10th Parliament of Kenya
Category:University of Nairobi alumni
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