Coast MPs pick sides after Jumwa's outburst

A section of Kilifi county MPs on Saturday defended Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa for block ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna from discussing party affairs at a funeral. 

Jumwa has been kicked out of ODM for supporting Deputy President William Ruto but the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal temporarily stopped her expulsion.

Drama seems to follows Jumwa everywhere. 

Her defenders said Jumwa did the right thing and asked leaders from outside the county to respect local leaders.

Those rushing to Jumwa's defence included Magarini MP Michael Kingi, Kilifi North MP Owen Baya and Nominated Senator Christine Zawadi.

The MPs spoke during the burial of Kilifi Woman Representative Gertrude Mbeyu’s father Justus Mwanyanje at Kibarani in Kilifi. The service was attended by about 10 MPs including Governor Amason Kingi and Lands CAS Gideon Mung’aro.

Baya hit out at some of the MPs for working with county neighbours against their own leaders and asked outsiders to respect local leaders when they come to the county.

Addressing the mourners, he said what Sifuna did was wrong and showed a lack of respect for local leadership. 

“The Mijikenda are the majority at the coast and should be respected, gone are the days when the region’s leadership will be undermined,’’ he said.

Magarini MP Kingi said there was no need for Sifuna to talk party politics in Malindi since Jumwa was expelled from ODM.

“There was no need for him to talk about it because she is no longer in the party it’s only the court that is holding her," he said.

He said Jumwa was bitter after her expulsion and she would not allow the ODM secretary general to "follow her to her constituency and continue intimidating her".

“If Sifuna wants to talk of ODM matters in Kilifi county let him deal with the party members," he said.

On Friday, mourners at the burial of the Mombasa deputy governor’s father watched in shock as Jumwa physically blocked Sifuna from addressing them at Jilore in Malindi constituency.

When she took the podium on Saturday, Jumwa said she wanted to punch him as a symbol of discipline for disrespecting the Mijikenda.

She said Sifuna was nobody as he never campaigned for ODM in Kilifi.

Jumwa told Mathare MP Anthony Oluoch to tell Sifuna that residents of Kilifi joined ODM voluntarily but some things they had voted for were not delivered.

“There were things we thought would be done for the Coast but after getting our ODM tickets, that was the end of ODM. Kingi was left with the burden of campaigning alone to deliver from MCAs to the top seat,’’ Jumwa said.

The incident highlighted the two camps within the county: one opposed to Jumwa led by Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire who accompanied Sifuna to the funeral, and another one supporting her. 

Mwambire brought a new ‘breed’ of ODM MPs to back him and even attacked the vocal Malindi MP but they all shied away,  probably reluctant to face Jumwa's wrath.

The Ganze MP came together with Mathare MP Anthony Oluoch, Caleb Amisi (Sabot) and Joshua Kimilu (Kaiti) and instead changed the tune and talked of unifying the region and fighting corruption.

Oluoch distanced himself from the wars between Jumwa and Sifuna. 

Governor Kingi said Jumwa had a right to be angry as a politician because of the problems she was facing. But he asked her not to overreact as it could affect her image and that of the other county leaders.

“When you see a madman removing his clothes don’t remove yours, people will conclude that all of you are mad. What happened on Friday was not good despite your anger," he told Jumwa. 

(Edited by R.Wamochie)