Weighbridge spat throws lawmaker into the limelight
Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter (right) and nominated URP MP Sunjeev Kaur Birdi at Criminal Investigations Department Headquarters where they had gone to record statement on January 25,2015 over an incident in which they threatened officials at Gilgil weighbridge. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL |
What you need to know:
- Before she was nominated to the National Assembly by the United Republican Party, not much was known about Ms Birdi, who was conspicuous in the crowd of Jubilee campaigners before the March 2013 General Election.
- She went into politics in 2012 but continued working in the family business, Turn-O-Metal Engineers Ltd, a drilling company on Lunga Lunga Road in Industrial Area, Nairobi.
- The lorry, which is fitted with a drilling machine, was impounded because its crew did not have a certificate of exemption from the Kenya National Highways Authority.
Nominated MP Sunjeev ‘Sonia’ Kaur Birdi was walking into a catering tent at the Jubilee Alliance’s retreat in Naivasha when she noticed that TV cameras were trained on her.
She was in the company of Labour CS Kazungu Kambi and some MPs. She turned to the cameramen and asked, “Kwani nyinyi hamjaona Mhindi siku ingine? (haven’t you ever seen an Indian?)”
This was before the incident at Gilgil Weighbridge.
It was with good reason that cameras were trained on the MP; she is the first Asian-Kenyan woman lawmaker in the country.
Before she was nominated to the National Assembly by the United Republican Party, not much was known about Ms Birdi, who was conspicuous in the crowd of Jubilee campaigners before the March 2013 General Election.
Not many Kenyans of Asian origin get into politics. Although she took part in URP nominations for the Makadara seat, she had not got to the point where she could attract media attention.
BLENDED WELL
She has blended well in the National Assembly, making 169 contributions on the floor since 2013 and rarely missing sittings, according to mzalendo.com.
Ms Birdi says on her website that she studied at Loreto Convent and Our Lady of Mercy Schools before proceeding for a Masters degree in Business Administration at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK.
When she came back to Kenya, Ms Birdi wanted to start a newspaper but ended up working for Radio Africa’s East FM between 1998 and 2005.
She went into politics in 2012 but continued working in the family business, Turn-O-Metal Engineers Ltd, a drilling company on Lunga Lunga Road in Industrial Area, Nairobi.
She burst into the limelight on Sunday morning while attempting to free a truck operated by the company that had been impounded at the Gilgil Weighbridge on the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway.
IN ORDER
“We told them that everything was in order and they should stop bothering us. The fact is we got upset because these people were actually demanding bribes,” she told the Nation on Sunday.
“How are we supposed to know that this paper is required and we have been doing this business for the last 25 years? Nobody has ever stopped us and I am not the only one. There are so many people in the industry who can tell you how they have always been asked for a bribe.”
She was accompanied by Nandi Hills MP Alfred Keter.
The lorry, which is fitted with a drilling machine, was impounded because its crew did not have a certificate of exemption from the Kenya National Highways Authority. The document is required for vehicles of an unusual design and which would exceed axle load limits.
