Mekatilili reborn, or who is this woman Jumwa?

Even before the Tuesday night arrest over the shooting of an ODM supporter, Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa was not new to controversy.

Her political career, spanning 22 years, has been one long roller coaster of drama and storms that she rode all the way to Parliament.

Jumwa, who is known for her deep voice, being vocal and fearless, has risen to be a household name not only in Kilifi County but the country at large.

Those who know her describe her as a dare-devil who will go to any length to achieve what she desires, regardless of the obstacles. 

It is claimed that when her first husband asked told her to choose between marriage and politics, she chose the latter, forcing the man to file for divorce. She also, allegedly, took the husband to the area sub-chief where she agreed to pay back the dowry of Sh20,000 in cash, cows and goats.

And to the surprise of villagers, Jumwa is alleged to have personally driven the cows and goats paid to her parents back to her in-laws. 

She later married former Jomvu Member of County Assembly Karisa Nzai, whom she divorced some years later, after she became Kilifi Woman Representative.

Jumwa is known to use her flawless Swahili, songs, poems and dances punctuated by punchy speeches to wow voters to her side during campaigns.

Former Premier and Opposition leader Raila Odinga once equated her to Mekatilli wa Menza, the Giriama freedom fighter who fought British colonialists. 

The Malindi MP was born in a polygamous family, with 30 siblings. Despite coming from a highly patriarchal community, Jumwa has never shied away from fighting for what she believes in and goes against the grain most of the time. 

In March this year, Jumwa was expelled from the opposition Orange party after she expressed support for Deputy President William Ruto’s 2022 presidential bid. However, she took the party leadership head-on and her removal from the party was stopped. Though her male counterparts in the Coast, who had been branded as ODM rebels retreated and rejoined the party, Jumwa has remained defiant in her support for Ruto. 

“I will not go out of ODM, I will fight them from within, I wonder why they are fighting me for supporting Ruto; I have a right to support whoever I want,’’ she said in a previous interview. 

Born in 1975 at Takaungu area of Kilifi County, Jumwa started as an activist for land injustices and would later find her way in political rallies in Kilifi.  

She dropped out of school in Form Two, but in 2011 she enrolled as a private candidate at Chandaria Hall, Mombasa, where she sat her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.

She got herself into active politics when she was elected Takaungu Kanu youth leader. This propelled her to win the Takangu ward councillor’s seat twice between 1997 and 2007. 

In 2004, she was elected chairperson of Kilifi County Council while Nzai, the former husband, was the Mombasa deputy mayor.

She was elected Kilifi Woman Rep in 2013 on an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket and in 2017 polls, she took on seven men and won the Malindi parliamentary seat, becoming the first woman to have won a seat in the male dominated political scene in that county.

Nzai described Jumwa as an aggressive and go-getter politician who never shies away from controversy.

“We divorced and I have a daughter with her but what I can say is that she is a brilliant politician. Her braveness and aggressiveness is what has made her what she is today,” he said in telephone interview yesterday.

The mother of three has now set her eyes on the Kilifi gubernatorial seat in the 2022 elections. 

Despite being an ODM member, Jumwa has been supporting an independent candidate Abdulrahman Mohamed, instead of Reuben Katana of his party, for yesterday’s Ganda ward by-election.

The by-election has led to her fallout with MPs Owen Baya (Kilifi North), Ken Chonga (Kilifi South), Teddy Mwambire (Ganze), William Kamoti (Rabai), Senator Stewart Madzayo, and Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi. 

In May, Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli dismissed Jumwa “as not fit for him”. In a swift below-the-belt rebuttal, the MP agreed with Atwoli but with a rider that the Cotu boss could “simply not handle a V8 because he is used to driving a Probox.”

In the same month, she humiliated ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna after grabbing a microphone from him while he was addressing mourners at the funeral of Mombasa Deputy Governor William Kingi’s father.

Analysts say her aggressiveness has exposed her and has earned her many enemies who could take advantage of any opportunity to “finish” her politically.