Msambweni MP Suleiman Dori laid to rest

**Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho's brother Abubakar Joho consoles Likoni MP Mishi Mboko as Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir looks on at Aga Khan Hospital, Mombasa, on March 9, 2020**. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Msambweni MP Suleiman Dori has been buried at his Gazi home in Kwale county.

He died on Monday morning while receiving treatment at Aga Khan Hospital in Mombasa.

Dori was buried at around 4.30pm after final prayers according to Muslim rites.

Politicians led by Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya attended.

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi, ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna, Kwale Senator Issa Juma Boy and Lamu Woman Representative Ruweida Obbo were present.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s condolence message was read out by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale.

Suba South's John Mbadi passed ODM leader Raila Odinga’s tribute at the funeral that was also attended by MPs Aisha Jumwa, Mishi Mboko, Khatib Mwashetani, Benjamin Tayari and Paul Katana among others.

Dori's ODM party eulogised him as a people’s servant whose death is a huge loss to Msambweni and Kwale County.

He was born on October 19, 1977, in Msambweni.

Dori won the area Parliamentary seat on the ODM ticket in 2013.

In the National Assembly, he was a member of the Departmental Committee on Lands and Natural Resources and also a member of the Departmental Committee on Public Works, Roads & Transport.

In politics, he could have been considered an upcoming icon but to ODM party honchos; he was simply a rebel on the prowl.

Speaking to the Nairobian at a past interview, the legislator attributed his decision to run on the ODM party ticket to subscribing to party ideals and party leader Raila Odinga’s stand on devolution.

“I had no plans to venture into politics. But I wanted to change the life of my people. For long, we lacked basic amenities like schools, health and water. I joined politics in 2013 and ran for the Msambweni seat on an ODM ticket."

A controversial moment in his career was in 2015 when he was accused of threatening to beat his colleague Zuleikha Hassan Juma in Parliament’s dining room.

As Zuleikha made a formal complaint to Speaker Justin Muturi to take disciplinary action against him, the legislator’s response was, “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."

In February last year, the then ODM Secretary-General Dr Agnes Zani told journalists the party was fully in support of taking legal action against Dori and other rebel MPs for breaching party rules. The group had declared support for DP Ruto’s 2022 presidential bid.

On March 1, 2019, Dori survived the party’s chop after he was given 60 days to appear before the National Governing Council to defend himself.

“That having received a letter of apology from Hon. Suleiman Dori, the members resolved to defer their decision,” a statement from Edwin Sifuna, ODM Secretary General, read.

His bitter-sweet relations with the party later took a low profile after ODM shelved the decision to expel him and Jumwa.

Dori leaves behind his widow and two children.