'She aspired to be elected this year', Kananu mourns nominated MCA

Nairobi’s nominated MCA Hon. Mellab Lumalah has passed on. [Courtesy]

Nairobi Governor Anne Kananu has joined the county assembly in mourning nominated MCA and Deputy Minority leader Mellab Lumalah who passed on last night.

In a statement to newsrooms, Kananu has eulogised the late Lumalah as a ‘no-nonsense personality who fought to be heard in instances she felt she was not heard’.

“She broke many barriers by becoming nominated MCA and was later appointed as the Nairobi Deputy Minority leader. Her biggest aspiration this year was to vie for an elected seat in this year’s General election,” Kananu stated.

Sources at the county assembly have told The Standard that the county lawmaker succumbed on Sunday night after battling illness for a long while, but received information of her death this morning.

In a phone interview, the assembly’s speaker Benson Mutura said that the deceased had been suffering from a suspected cancer of the bile and passed while undergoing specialised treatment in India.

“She has been unwell for some time and has been in and out of the hospital. She left Nairobi hospital for specialised treatment but she did not make it,” Mutura said.

Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris was the first leader to break the news to the public, where he eulogized the deceased as ‘loyal, passionate and dedicated’.

“Saddened to learn that Nominated MCA Hon Mellab Lumalah has passed. She was loyal, passionate and dedicated to service. My condolences to her dear husband Afwayi and their son,” Passaris tweeted on Monday morning.

The deceased was appointed the deputy minority leader in 2020 as the ODM party streamlined its leadership at the assembly.

Minority Whip Peter Imwatok eulogised Mellab as a loyal and staunch party member who was respected among her peers.

“It's indeed very sad to us as a family of ODM to lose a great friend and a powerful support base of baba in the assembly more so our deputy minority leader. may her soul rest with Angels,” he stated.

The late Mellab was the seconder of the controversial motion passed by the assembly in 2017, banning commercial sex workers in Nairobi CBD.