Junet Mohammed: I believe in Raila ideals

He only came onto the national political scene recently, but he is fast becoming the foremost defender of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and quickly elevating himself to one of the Cord leader’s most trusted allies.

In the short 17 months he has been in Parliament, 35-year-old Suna East MP Junet Mohammed has literally elbowed out old guard from Mr Odinga’s inner circle.

He has not been shy to take the Jubilee government head-on nor has he spared Cord ‘rebel’ MPs. For both acts, Mr Mohammed told the Sunday Nation he has no apologies to make.  

“Whether you are an old guard or a first-time MP, the least that is expected of you is to defend and stand with your party ideals. I don’t like double standards. I don’t entertain the hypocrisy of abandoning your ideals for quick gains,” he said.

Cord recently stripped Kilifi North MP Gideon Mung’aro of his position as Minority Chief Whip because of his alleged lack of loyalty and replaced him with Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu.
Mr Mohammed was among Cord MPs who told Cord rebels to give up their seats and seek a fresh mandate if they were not ready to toe the line. 

“You cannot be wearing a Barcelona uniform yet you purport to be playing for Real Madrid. He must go and get the right attire; even Fifa rules cannot allow that,” he told Mr Mung’aro.   
His admiration of Mr Odinga runs deep. Like the Leader of Majority Aden Duale who once claimed he was ready to take the bullet for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto, the first-time MP says that nothing would stop him from defending Mr Odinga and ODM.

“I will defend and protect him because of the ideals and beliefs we are advancing. He is my party leader, and the least I can do is be loyal to him. Defending him is not a favour but an obligation,” he said.

Given his boldness, Mr Mohammed claims he has not been spared attempts to sway him, citing the ODM elections that aborted. He claims that certain candidates approached him to abandon Mr Odinga, but he resisted.

CASH AND LAND GIFTS

Similar attempts have come from the government side which he claims sent emissaries with a promise of cash and land gifts. Both attempts failed.

“I always say that I have two fathers – my biological father who is in Migori and the former Prime Minister who is my political father. But when one comes to Parliament especially for the first time, there are attempts by others to sway them to a particular direction. That is bound to happen. When you are vocal in Parliament and outside it, every person would want to have you on their side,” he said.

But his defence of Mr Odinga, he said, should not be equated to blind loyalty, and neither is he Mr Odinga’s mouthpiece.

“The former PM has his mouth. No one can take that away from him. It is very rare for him to call me asking me to go out and speak in a certain manner. But if you believe in the same ideals, definitely you will speak the same language, and some people may take you as his spokesman. I will defend and protect the former PM because he is our leader,” he said.

Between 2002 and 2007, Mr Mohammed was the mayor of Migori, an unprecedented feat for a Kenyan ethnic Somali. The population of Migori is largely Luo. Mr Mohammed was elected to the National Assembly in 2013 on an ODM ticket.

“I was born and brought up in Migori where my father had settled from Mandera. My father has been a businessman in Migori since the 1970s. Business was our point of entry into Migori. I don’t know any other home apart from Migori. My wife also comes from Migori,” he said.

He joined politics in 2002 during the Narc campaigns when he started mobilising for Narc affliate LDP and got to relate with Mr Odinga. After the election in which Narc ousted Kanu from power, he was nominated a councillor and later elected the Migori mayor.