Abdullahi hopes to be youngest woman rep

At only 28, Miraj Abdullahi has seen it all, from giving birth at 18 to dining with the Deputy President at 21.

She is determined to floor three more experienced women for the UDA ticket to vie for Mombasa woman rep.

Human rights activist Abdullahi, political activist Afiya Rama, Maendelo ya Wanawake Mombasa chair Ilham Taisir and lawyer Fatma Barayan are all gunning for the UDA ticket.  

They are all, however, eagerly waiting for the final word from DP William Ruto on Tuesday on how the tickets will be issued.

After failing to reach consensus, UDA aspirants for the Senate, woman rep and MP seats were called for interviews at the Hustler Centre in Nairobi on Friday.

All MCA aspirants will however be subjected to nominations on Thursday.

Abdullahi says she has beaten adversity before and she believes she can do it again.

And at 28, she is determined to become the youngest woman rep in Kenya.

“I have been supporting the girl child and fighting for her rights because of what I went through,” says Abdullahi, referring to her being a mother at 18.

Abdullahi says though she has no regrets, it has made her even more aggressive in fighting for girls and the youth in general.

She has earned the nickname ‘Mama Haki’ from her aggressive approach to human rights issues whenever called upon.

Born and brought up in Barsheba, Kisauni constituency, Abdullahi has been a typical Kisauni woman – aggressive when necessary and nonchalant in the face of adversity.

Her tendency to aggressively fight for what is right and against any overbearing person was seen as early as in Std 4 by her class teacher at Bondeni Girls Primary School.

There were challenges in school and she was the loudest and most pushy in wanting the challenges addressed by the administration.

Abdullahi class teacher, now deceased, Mrs Ayuma, nicknamed her Wangari Maathai.

“At that time I did not know who Wangari Maathai was. So I went deeper and read about her, and realised I could emulate her,” she says.

From Bondeni Girls, Abdullahi went to Coast Girls Secondary School before joining Technical University of Mombasa to study business management.

The birth of her first child at the age of 18 was a bit of a setback as she found it difficult to juggle parenthood and academics.

Abdullahi was forced to drop out of school and look for money.

She eventually joined Kenya Methodist University where she is now pursuing her business management degree.

Abdullahi plunged into active politics in 2013, when she was only 19.

She was in Musalia Mudavadi’s United Democratic Forum, through which she unsuccessfully vied for the position of Mombasa woman representative.

“I thank God I did not quit. I continued my service to the society through a youth group that later turned into a CBO called Counties Action Network,” Abdullahi says.

The community based organisation looks at governance and fights for girls' rights. 

She underwent six-month training at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue to learn how to discharge her duties. 

Abdullahi says she thrived in the civil society movement but her political journey has been challenging.

“This is mainly because the political terrain in Kenya has been shaped in such a way that if you do not have the financial muscle, you could easily fail,” she says.

For nine years, she has worked as a human rights defender and dabbled in politics but now wants to have the political might to better challenge the status quo.

She hopes to have issues affecting mostly women and youth addressed.

Abdullahi was among the few women who risked their lives to protest against the government directive for all cargo to be transported via the standard gauge railway from the Mombasa port.

She was one of the founders of Mwamko Mpya. The lobby is made up of youth fed up with what they say is Coast politicians failing to protect the region's resources.

Abdullahi says the political arena in Mombasa is particularly difficult for a woman.

“There are tycoons who have vested interests, who bankroll politicians to elbow any strong woman out of the political space,” she says.

They end up bankrolling weak candidates who they can manipulate and in the end turn them into their flower girls, Abdullahi says.

“There is favouritism, even in political parties, where party bigwigs feel threatened or intimidated by strong women. So they end up fronting weaker ones who they are more comfortable with,” she says.

Married with three daughters aged between six and 11, Abdullahi says she is privileged.

“I thank my husband, who has been very supportive of my journey,” she says.

Abdullahi says it is awkward for a married woman to get calls in the middle of the night to attend to some problem, but her husband is supportive and understanding.

She says her mother has been a pillar in her political journey, taking care of her three children when she is engaged in politics.

“It is my mother, together with my father, who helped me launch my political career when I was only 19 years old,” Abdullahi says.

While in UDF, she met former Kisauni MP Ananiah Mwaboza who introduced her to Ruto.

“That was around 2015 when Mwaboza was the DP’s legal adviser. The DP helped us with our projects in the youth group and our CBO,” Abdullahi says.

She reveals that it was Ruto who prevailed upon her to let Amina Abdalla run for Mombasa woman rep on the Jubilee Party ticket in 2017.

Her competitors are banking on their experience to clinch the ticket. 

“I have been in this political scene long enough. I have been selling the party everywhere I go. I have been a coordinator of the party and I have built the numbers,” Afiya Rama says.

She is rooting for nominations but says she will respect the decision of the party leader.

“Let us wait and see what the party leader will have for us on Tuesday,” Rama says.

She says some of her opponents have admitted they are amateurs while some are not even interested in the seat.

“They wanted to be senators and MPs. Now that they do not even understand what they want, they think the woman rep position is the easiest to clinch that is why they have joined this race,” says Rama.

Fatma Barayan says she hopes to use her legal background to sponsor bills that will improve the lives of women and youth.

The aspirant says the need to help people propelled her to seek the woman rep position.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya