Will the artful Jumwa do another somersault?

What you need to know:

  • Six years into elective politics, starting off as Kilifi Woman Rep, Ms Jumwa has developed her own unique style of communicating to her base.
  • Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga has likened her to Mekatilili wa Menza.
  • She can mobilise, energise and electrify a political base in a way few people can, making her an invaluable asset to any wannabe president.
  • She is also abrasive and intimidating, characteristics that raffle both friend and foe.

On the podium, Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa is a joy to watch, even if you disagree with her. Rough and tough, her hulking frame and witticism, delivered in coastal Kiswahili, always attract great interest.

Six years into elective politics, starting off as Kilifi Woman Rep, Ms Jumwa has developed her own unique style of communicating to her base.

Yet, if the title Flip-Flopper-In-Chief existed, this mother of three, whose political life is on the knife’s edge after her party’s disciplinary committee this month recommended her expulsion, alongside Msambweni MP Suleiman Dori — the title would indisputably be hers.

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga has likened her to Mekatilili wa Menza, the freedom fighter remembered for leading the Giriama rebellion against British occupation during colonial times.

Like Mekatilili, the MP is Giriama. And like Mekatilili, she has a political presence and uncanny ability to stand her ground on issues she believes in. But unlike Mekatilili, she is shifty and mercurial.

DOMENEERING PRESENCE

It is largely because of her domineering presence, and the ability to work up the crowds, that she won the 2017 Malindi parliamentary contest against the will of Governor Amason Kingi, one of ODM's kingpin in the region.

She is gangly, can mobilise, energise and electrify a political base in a way few people can, making her an invaluable asset to any wannabe president.

But she is also abrasive and intimidating, characteristics that raffle both friend and foe.

Whether she is attacking Mr Odinga, or ODM, while in defence of newfound ally William Ruto (Deputy President), or urging Kilifi residents to cast fetishes to stop last year's repeat presidential election, Ms Jumwa can be as puzzling as a riddle. She can say almost anything, anywhere and easily get away with it.

When former Mombasa Senator Omar Hassan defected to Jubilee, throwing epithets at ODM in the thick of the 2017 General Election campaigns, it is this flip flopper who provided pearls of laughter to the dreary episode. She took the senator head on, contemptuously dismissing him as "just one of us, women”.

POLITICAL MIGHT

“Baba,” she purred in baritone, while addressing Mr Odinga at a Nasa rally in Mama Ngina Drive, Mombasa, in 2017: “Don’t waste your time responding to him. Leave him to us because we know him better”.

This gang-ho character had been spotted way back in 2016 during the Malindi by-election period. Appointment of then MP Dan Kazungu to the cabinet in December 2015 created a vacancy in the constituency and an opportunity for both Cord and Jubilee to show their political might. ODM fielded Willy Mtengo and Jubilee supported Phillip Charo, but it is Ms Jumwa who starred in the thriller that was the campaign for the seat.

Eventually, the ODM man won.

Desperate to create an impression that Jubilee was making inroads in the largely ODM enclave, MPs allied to the party stormed the area ahead of the polls, criss-crossing the constituency with bags of cash to lure voters.

ELECTORAL OFFENCES

Then Mwea MP Peter Gitau was not so lucky when, during a rendezvous, his path and Ms Jumwa’s crossed at a polling station. The always abrasive MP did not disappoint. Accusing him of electoral offences, she threw caution to the wind and wrestled him to the ground. She pinned him there tightly until police arrived … almost two hours later, and whisked the two away.

Ms Jumwa and Msambweni MP Suleiman Dori are at odds with ODM's disciplinary committee due to alleged disloyalty. The duo has openly declared support for DP Ruto’s 2022 presidential bid, which has rankled ODM.

The Malindi MP is firm and unflinching in her support for the DP. Whether she will sustain this rebellion is yet to be seen.

Sometime ago, she and Mr Dori rebelled against Mr Odinga and ODM, but they gradually buckled.

That rebellion was led by then Kilifi North MP Gideon Mung’aro and included Mr Khatib Mwashetani (Lunga Lunga), Ms Zainab Chidzuga (Kwale) and Mustafa Iddi (Kilifi South).