Kenyan Woman MP tells Speaker that male colleague threatened to beat her

Msambweni MP Suleiman Dori who is said threatened nominated MP Zuleikha Hassan

NAIROBI: The aroma of stewed chicken, sautéed spinach and pan-fried beef at the parliamentary dining room was one lunchtime this week broken by violent threats issued by a male MP to his female colleague.

On Wednesday, Kwale politics took centre stage as two legislators from Msambweni Zuleikha Hassan Juma (nominated) and Suleiman Dori (elected) disagreed in front of their colleagues.

That day, when Zuleikha passed by the table where Dori was sitting with Mustafa Idd (Kilifi South) and Omar Mwinyi of the Labour and Social Welfare Committee, Mustafa called after her, asking why she had not greeted them.

“Are you afraid Dori will beat you up?” posed Mustafa.

APPLY SANCTIONS

Zuleikha turned, went to the table, apologised, sat down and tried to clarify.

“I told the MP I wasn’t the one who had been beaten; it was my mobiliser in Kwale who was beaten,” Zuleikha told The Standard on Saturday on the incident.

To her shock, she said, Dori told her: “Hata pia wewe nitakupiga.”

If you ask Dori, the story is basically the same, except that he denies issuing a threat.

“It was a very normal conversation. I told her: ‘Hata wewe ukikosa heshima, waweza fanyiwa hivyo (the same can be done to you)’” Dori told The Standard on Saturday.

But to Zuleikha, it was a potent threat that made her file a letter to Speaker Justin Muturi, who is the chairman of the disciplinarian Powers and Privileges Committee, seeking the Speaker’s protection from Dori.

Dori disputed: “I am not a drunkard. I don’t smoke bhang. I am not a mad person. I don’t use drugs. Why would I threaten a lady? I can’t fight with a lady. It was a very cordial conversation about the Kwale incident that Mustafa and Zuleikha were having, and I just commented that if someone loses respect, you never know what the public will do.”

The letter delivered to the Speaker’s office late on Wednesday seeks to have Dori punished and told not to lay a hand on Zuleikha.

“I hereby humbly request your committee to apply sanctions on him for his dishonourable behaviour as I feel that he is violating my constitutional duty to represent the people of Kenya,” Zuleikha told the Speaker in the letter seen by The Standard on Saturday. “I am convinced that one day he will carry out his threats...”

If you ask Zuleikha what the problem is, she will give you a story of her troubles in Msambweni, where she comes from and which she is using as her political platform in her quest to become the county woman representative for Kwale.

She gives an example of the incident where her mobiliser, who is also chairman of ODM in Ramisi Ward, was allegedly beaten up by Dori at a meeting of the Labour and Social Welfare Committee which was in the area for an inquiry into the plight of workers at the Kwale International Sugar Company. “He claims that I am causing disruptions in his constituency,” said Zuleikha.

DISRUPT MEETING

But Dori argues that the person who was allegedly beaten up was “disruptive” and the beating was done by the public. He questions why a “mobiliser” was required when the management of the sugar company could simply have told the workers to turn up at a meeting of a parliamentary committee.

“She wants to be a county woman representative; I am an elected MP. She is not my competitor. The point is, I am the elected leader from Msambweni and everyone knows that. If anyone wants to mess with my constituency, then I will deal with that person,” Dori said.

Zuleikha said the MP wanted to disrupt the meeting in his constituency because he had not been consulted when the Labour committee scheduled the visit.

She accuses Dori of unleashing “a bunch of goons” when he was informed about the meeting.

Zuleikha’s complaints are not the first from a female legislator in the current Parliament or in the male-dominated field of elective politics.

Joyce Lay (Taita Taveta) accused a fellow legislator of harassing her during a trip to Tokyo, when she rejected his advances.

And some male MPs were accused of assaulting Millie Mabona (Mbita), including attempting to undress her, during heated debate on the contentious Security Bill last year.

The Powers and Privileges committee is expected to deliberate on Zuleikha’s complaint and assess whether Dori has a case to answer.