What you need to know about Western Kenya Political Crown Prince Ababu Namwamba

Former Budalangi MP and Sports CS nominee Ababu Namwamba. [Esther Jeruto, Standard] Never had a parliamentary watchdog committee been disbanded, but when it happened in Kenya in 2016, it was for corruption - and Ababu Namwamba was at the centre of it. A major corruption scandal, which sucked in all the members of the Public Accounts Committee, forced the Speaker of the National Assembly to order that parliament's privileges committee investigates claims that Mr Namwamba's committee had been extorting and blackmailing public officials they were meant to oversee. Mr Namwamba, in his defence, said that the other committee members were placing the blame on him for refusing to aid their schemes. Six committee members, Namwamba among them, were barred from inclusion in the new oversight committee that would be created following the disbandment of the committee he led. In its report, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission named the 26 MPs in the committee for allegedly receiving Sh1.5 million from former Interior Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo in return for expunging his name from their report on unexplained expenditure at the Office of the President. Mr Namwamba, who had catapulted himself to the influential position of secretary-general of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement two years earlier at the age of 39, lasted as PAC chair for three years. He soon after resigned from his party position and formed the Labour Party of Kenya to unsuccessfully defend his seat in the following year's election. His dalliance with William Ruto, which is believed to have begun then, cost him the Budalang'i parliamentary seat he had held since 2007, but it bought him a new lease of life as Cabinet Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a first-time MP, Namwamba burst onto the scene through perfervid displays of loyalty to his party leader, Raila Odinga. Memorably, Namwamba declined to pledge loyalty to then President Mwai Kibaki, whose re-election was disputed and the subject of international mediation, and instead swore loyalty to 'President Odinga' while taking his oath as a new MP in February 2008. Vocal, articulate and bringing his training as a lawyer to bear, Namwamba found himself in oversized roles, once serving as chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Review in the lead-up to the critical constitution-making months. He is reputed as having the highest number of Private Member's Motions and Bills in the 10th and 11th Parliament, respectively. In 2012, months before the next election, Namwamba was appointed Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs in the Grand Coalition government. His most notable achievement at the time was the enactment of the 2013 Sports Act. In the short time, he was in office, he also pushed through the establishment of the National Youth Council, enhanced the profile of the National Youth Service (NYS) and streamlined the National Youth Enterprise Fund. Namwamba, 46, who holds a law degree from the University of Nairobi and a master's degree from the American University Washington College of Law, cut his teeth in public interest litigation before dabbling in civil society. After qualifying as an advocate, Namwamba joined the Public Law Institute (PLI), Kenya's first-ever civil society organisation for public interest, where he worked until 2002 when he founded Chambers of Justice. Born in Jinja, Uganda, at the height of Idi Amin's dictatorship, his parents moved back to Kenya where he attended schools in Eldoret before joining Kolanya High School. At the university, he was elected student leader in 1996 and chaired the Kenya Law Students Society. He secured a historic victory in the constitutional court when the judges in 2003 affirmed the right of children from Nyumbani Children's Home, which cares for children living with HIV/Aids, to attend public schools. The case led to his recognition with the Global Justice Award in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 2004. That same year, Namwamba won a landmark legal battle when his client, a Kenyan-born Pakistani, who had been wrongfully accused of terrorism, was freed. During a parliamentary debate on the motion that ultimately toppled him as chair of PAC, Mr Namwamba dramatically refused to withdraw claims he had made on the floor of the house that his colleagues had been bribed. Mr Namwamba, who says he loves reading, has previously cited the Greek mythology story of Icarus and his father Daedalus as one of the earliest influences on his life. It ironically mirrors his political rise: Icarus ignored his father, the master craftsman Dedalus, and using wings made of feathers and wax, flew too close to the sun and crashed into the sea. The reprise of this story is that if Namwamba was Icarus, he has a new life as the nominee for Youth, Sports and Arts. Curiously, it is not an assignment in foreign affairs, where he is believed to have used his contacts since resigning in February this year to market Dr Ruto internationally as a likeable character. Mr Namwamba has been variously described as the political Crown Prince of western Kenya, but commentators also warned - even as early as before his PAC removal - that he would be his own greatest obstacle. A great deal of focus will be trained on Kenya coming from under the ban by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) after the government disbanded the Kenya Football Federation over governance issues. It remains to be seen if the arts sector, which has been craving leadership and direction, will be improved under the Namwamba leadership.

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