"President Clinton Honored 6 at the 6th Annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards, including 2 from Africa and 1 who runs the company that is in the largest investor in Haiti
NEW YORK – The
Clinton Global Citizen Awards recognizes individuals from various
sectors who demonstrate visionary leadership in addressing global
challenges.
The 2012 Clinton Global Citizen Award recipients include 3 whose daily lives impact African communities:
The Right Reverend Christopher Senyonjo (Joint Honoree), executive director, St. Paul’s Reconciliation and Equality Centre Kampala, Uganda
The Right Reverend Christopher Senyonjo is perhaps best known for his
courageous advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ persons in Uganda.
Bishop
Senyonjo received his Master of Divinity in 1966 and his Master of
Sacred Theology in 1967 from Union Theological Seminary in New York.
From 1974 until 1998, Bishop Senyonjo was the Diocesan Bishop of West
Buganda. He completed a Doctor of Ministry at Hartford Theological
Seminary.
Following his retirement, Bishop Senyonjo began counseling
services for LGBTQ people. In 2010, he founded St. Paul’s Reconciliation
and Equality Centre in Kampala with support from the St. Paul’s
Foundation for International Reconciliation in the United States.
Pepe Julian Onziema (Joint Honoree), programme director and advocacy officer, Sexual Minorities Uganda Kampala , Uganda
Pepe Julian Onziema is a 31-year old transgender Ugandan. A
Pan-African Human Rights Defender currently working as the program
director and advocacy officer at Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG),
Onziema is the spokesperson for both SMUG and the Ugandan LGBT movement,
plus the LGBTI focal person on the Steering Committee of the Pan
African Human Rights Defenders Network.
Denis O’Brien, chairman and founder, Digicel Group Ireland
Denis O’Brien is chairman of privately-owned Digicel Group.. O’Brien founded
Digicel in 2001, when the company launched a Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) cellular phone service in the Caribbean. Digicel
has extended its operations to 31 markets, with over 12.8 million
subscribers in the Caribbean, Central America, and Pacific regions.
In 2010, O’Brien was named goodwill ambassador for the city
of Port-au-Prince in Haiti by the mayor in recognition of his efforts to
rebuild Haiti and attract foreign direct investment in the aftermath
of the earthquake that year. Digicel is the single largest private
investor in Haiti.
