By Kamau Kariuki
Edwin Watenya Sifuna is a vocal Kenyan politician and legal professional who courts controversies with near abandon. The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary-General has come under-fire for uttering abusive remarks directed at Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa. Women rights groups lambasted the ODM SG for suggesting that the legislator was not even fit to be raped. Social media users were not left behind as they castigated Sifuna for undermining women. But those sentiments don’t wholly define Sifuna. He is just your typical politician who is loved and loathed in almost equal depending on one’s political persuasion. Here is Edwin Sifuna’s biography as told by Kamau Kuria.
Age and Place of Birth
Edwin Sifuna was born on 22 May 1986.
Education Background
He is an alumnus of the University of Nairobi – Parklands Campus, where he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Law. He then proceeded to the Kenya School of Law for a diploma. In an interview that appeared on a leading media house in 2015, the politician recounted how he used to drink himself to lunacy when he was a student. He said of his campus days:
I never engaged in side hustles, save for appearing on a TV commercial for promotion of abstinence which earned me Sh40, 000. I spent all that money on alcohol. Yes, we drank a lot, starting from K1 and finishing at Horn Bill along Tom Mboya Street.
Sometime we walked to Buzz Bar in Westlands just to party. We survived mostly on HELB (Higher Education Loans Board) money. It was like manna from heaven.
Career Journey
Edwin Sifuna’s political career was tested when he ran for the Kanduyi parliamentary seat and later in 2017 for Nairobi’s senate seat. His manifesto for Nairobi citizens as the senator was structured around solving the challenges bedeviling the capital city. These included measures to deal with traffic congestion, improved housing, broader access to resources, accountability from leaders, widespread unemployment, and boosting sports. He ran several campaigns backed by his party, ODM, targeting problematic regions in the county such as Kibra slums. He stood against six other contestants in the senatorial debate, including Nairobi Senator Sakaja Johnson, Suzanne Lengewa, and Dennis Nthumbi. The August eighth elections ended with Hon. Sakaja taking the seat. This run for the senator’s office was instrumental in cementing his ODM position. He has grown to be a close ally to the party leader, Raila Odinga.
He was later appointed as the ODM Secretary-General-replacing the then firebrand Ababu Namwamba who had fallen out with party honchos. He has led the party and offered clarity and direction regarding all party matters. He has used his position to support the Building Bridges Initiative and support ODM contestants’ election in several campaigns. In 2019, he was elected vice chairperson for the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD)-Kenya.
Personal Life
The ODM Secretary-General is the brother of former Bungoma South and Kanduyi MP, Lawrence Sifuna. He is married to a lady he met in his days in college whose father is Wamukoya Joseph, a former Matungu Member of Parliament. They married in 2010.
Net worth and Assets
Edwin Sifuna is a partner at E. Sifuna & Associates Advocates, where he runs his private legal practice. His primary role remains at the Orange Democratic Movement party carrying out activities such as campaigns for party interests like the BBI. His exact net worth is yet to be established, and information detailing his asset portfolio remains unavailable to the public.
Contacts
Twitter – @edwinsifuna
Instagram – @edwinsifuna
