Former Education Minister Peter Oloo Aringo has died aged 83.
Oloo who was also a former MP of Alego Usonga was born in 1941.
He died on Friday evening at a hospital in Nairobi.
This was confirmed by the current Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi Atandi through his Facebook page said, "I break the sad news of the sudden demise of Hon.Peter Oloo Aringo, former Cabinet Minister and MP Alego Usonga. Hon. Aringo passed on this evening at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi. May his soul rest in Peace".
Who was Oloo
The Former Cabinet Minister attended St. Mary's School in Yala, Kenya.
Aringo is an alumnus of Mbaga Primary School and St Mary’s School, Yala, where he also taught briefly after graduating with a diploma from Siriba College in Kakamega District (now Kakamega County).
He graduated from the University of Nairobi with a first-class bachelor’s degree in history, economics and politics in 1969.
He later won a Commonwealth scholarship to study for a master’s degree in international comparative education at Toronto University in Canada.
After graduating in 1972, Aringo returned home for a holiday as he waited to start his doctorate programme.
However, he was bitten by the bug of politics as the country was in the grip of election fever in 1974.
He used his networks in the teaching fraternity to launch his political career.
Political career
His first attempt at vying for the seat in Siaya District was a huge success, where he garnered 12,980 votes against 2,900 by his closet opponent Dr. Zachary Nyamodi.
He campaigned under the slogan, “Alego-Usonga needs enlightened leadership”.
During his first term in the August House, he moved two bills.
The first was to create a Truth and Reconciliation Commission; this was shot down by the Executive but revived in 1998 and Parliament passed it.
The second was to create a Parliamentary Service Commission to make the Legislature autonomous by having its budget and its funds drawn directly from the Consolidated Fund.
MPs also shot this down but more than two decades later, in 2002, Aringo resurrected the bill and successfully moved it.
During his third term as the Alego-Usonga MP Late President Daniel Moi made him an assistant minister for Education before appointing him a full Minister.
Aringo during his 15 years stint in the Cabinet served under Moi.
The Former Second President's confidence in Aringo led to his first Cabinet appointment as Minister for Information and Broadcasting before he was moved to Environment, Labour, Education and finally, the Ministry of Education.
Successes under the Education Docket.
It was during Aringo’s tenure as Minister for Education that the 8-4-4 system of education was introduced
The Kenya Science Teachers College was expanded and the Kenya Technical Trainers College (KTTC) was launched to address the needs of the new technical education system. Aringo also presented bills in Parliament that were enacted into law to make Moi, Maseno and Egerton universities into public institutions.
In addition, a deliberate policy was approved by the Government and promoted to start institutes of technology through fundraising in the eight provinces, namely Nairobi, Rift Valley, Western, Nyanza, Central, Eastern, North Eastern and Coast.
He spearheaded the creation of the National Environment Management Authority within a year of his transfer and after he prepared a policy paper to the Cabinet and a draft bill to Parliament for better management of the environment.
