By Machua Koinange
Ishrad Sumra ran stubbornly five times in a bid to become MP for Embakasi. It finally paid off this year when he won the seat on an ODM ticket.
“My dad kept asking me, why do you want to be MP? I have been involved in community services as a Lion’s Club member for a long time. I knew being an MP gave me a better leverage to address voters problems,” he says.
Sumra, a glass factory owner and scrap metal dealer, began his quest for leadership in Mombasa where he grew up in tough times in 1962.
“I used to arrive home to a plate of bhajias at 4 pm. I would then stay up late helping my mother sew bags from used cement bags that she sold. I earned Sh50 for the task,” Sumra recalls.
He would then wake up after a night of work to head to school. “I have seen poverty first hand,” he adds.
Sumra attended Burani Primary School in Mombasa and then Oshwal Secondary where he excelled in debates and was chairman of the debating society. His adept in debate would come in handy later in life in the most unexpected of places.
Sumra even tired his hand in division one football brushing shoulders with such football luminaries as Mahmoud Abbas. In 1990, he moved to Nairobi and tried his hand as a scrap metal dealer.
But his heart as a philanthropist veered him to be involved in community work in Embakasi.
Sumra’s first brush with politics came during the 1992 elections when he was involved in helping Richard Leakey run in Langata. He took notes of his first lessons about politics and kept them aside.
But his involvement with the local community had endeared him to Embakasi constituents. They urged him, in 1997 to run as opposed to helping somebody else campaign. Sumra felt his roots in the community projected him as a leader as opposed to his race being a factor. “I am more of an African than an Asian. My son played league matches in Dandora and Kayole. I have always been close to the people.”
So he threw his hut into the ring and ran on a Kanu ticket in Embakasi against a giant – Muhuri Muchiri. For Sumra it was a lesson in politics. He lost.
In 2002, he ran again on a Kanu ticket and won the primary. But he was stunned to learn the winners certificate had gone to somebody else.
“I went to David Mwenje to figure out what had happened. He became my professor and he taught me how Nairobi politics works. I learnt that you don’t go soft and be prepared for anything.”
e also taught him that burning a few tyres and that protesting gets you attention. Undeterred he kept his links with the Embakasi people and continued with his philanthropic work. In 2007 with a new tidal wave, he hopped onto the ODM bus and ran for the primary. “I had won the respect of my people and they had not forgotten me.”
He won. But again, he learnt like in 2002, having won the primary on the ground did not guarantee you the certificate from the party office. It was de javu all over again. The certificate had been given to Mugabe Were and Sumra was prevailed upon to accept the decision.
This time he put his foot down. “I was not going to give in and I said lets go to the ballot. I won” Finally his sixteen-year quest for MP had come to a triumphant end.
