Naomi Shaban: 20-year Taita Taveta MP concedes defeat

Ms. Shaban, who has been at the helm of the coastal constituency for 20 years and was seeking to retain her seat on a Jubilee Party ticket, conceded to defeat from her main rival, Wiper Party’s John Bwire Okano.

As of Wednesday morning, Okano was leading based on provisional results and Shaban sent an early congratulatory message to him.

The 58-year-old long-running MP said in a social media message that she had come into terms with Taita Taveta people wanting a new leadership and commended Okano and his team.

“Good people, there is time for everything. Well done team Bwire,” Shaban told her supporters in a message shared on a WhatsApp forum.

The veteran politician added: “Thank you for giving me a chance to serve you for 20 years. My young brother Okano, I congratulate you.”

Okano is a youthful Mombasa-based lawyer and this is his first stab at the parliamentary seat.

Shaban’s entry into the national assembly came in 2002, when she became the first woman MP for Taita Taveta through a Kenya African National Union (KANU) ticket. 

In 2007, she was re-elected through KANU and served another term under President Mwai Kibaki before defending the seat for the second time under a National Alliance Party (TNA) ticket in 2013.

Under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee administration, Shaban would serve two terms after being re-elected again in the 2017 General Election albeit irregularity claims from her arch-rival, Morris Mutiso.

Shaban has also served in the cabinet, first between 2008 and 2010, when she was Minister of State for Special Programmes.

President Mwai Kibaki switched her into the Gender and Children Affairs docket in August 2010.

In the ruling Jubilee party, Shaban deputises the party leader, President Kenyatta, where she is in charge of outreach programs.

Others in the race to dethrone her are Moris Mutiso of the ODM party, Didas Mzirai of UDA, as well as independent candidate Gaudenzio Muutu.