Edwin Watenya Sifuna | |
|---|---|
| Senator of Nairobi County[1] | |
| Assumed office 8 Sept 2022 | |
| 3rd Senator of Nairobi County | |
| Member of the Senate of Kenya | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edwin Watenya Sifuna 22 May 1982 Kakamega County, Kenya |
| Political party | ODM |
| Alma mater | University of Nairobi (LL.B) Kenya School of Law (KSL. Dip Law) |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Website | Website Official Twitter |
Edwin Watenya Sifuna, born 22 May 1982, is a Kenyan politician and the current Senator of Nairobi County after being elected[2] in the 2022 Kenyan general election. He is the Secretary-General of the ODM Party and the deputy minority whip in the Senate of Kenya.[3]
Sifuna started his formal education at Kakamega Township Primary School and later on joined Musingu High School where he sat for his KCSE exams. Thereafter, he pursued a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Nairobi graduating in 2006. After receiving his Post Graduate Diploma from the Kenya School of Law in 2007, Sifuna did his pupilage at Kairu & McCourt Advocates in Nairobi and was thereafter admitted to the Roll of Advocates in 2008[citation needed].
In 2013, Sifuna became a member of CORD as a Technical/Advisory Committee Member for three years before joining NASA in the same capacity. In the 2017 Kenyan general election, Edwin Sifuna expressed his interest to vie[4] for the Kanduyi Constituency Member of Parliament seat on an ODM Party ticket. He was however not successful during the primaries in April where he lost to John Makali.
With only about two months to the general elections in August, ODM fronted[5] Sifuna as their preferred candidate to contest the Nairobi senatorial seat[6] then held by Mike Sonko. He polled 674,056 votes (42,51%) against winner Johnson Sakaja who got 811,826 votes (51,20%).
In February 2018, Sifuna was picked as the Secretary-General of ODM[7] party to replace Ababu Namwamba.[8] In 2019, he was elected to serve as the Vice-chair of the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD).
In the 2022 Kenyan general election, Sifuna once again [9][10] contested the Nairobi Senatorial seat.[11] He garnered 716,876 to clinch the seat[12][13] and is now serving the people of Nairobi as their senator. In February 2023, he assumed the role of deputy minority whip in the Senate.[14]
Edwin Sifuna was born on 22 May 1982, at St. Mary's Hospital in Mumias, Kakamega County. His father was a civil servant with the defunct Municipal Council and his mother, a now-retired teacher from Moi Primary School in Bungoma. He has two brothers and two sisters. He is married[15] with a daughter.