Jomvu MP Badi Twalib (Photo/ KNA)
When Badi Twalib threw himself into the ring to contest for the newly-created Jomvu constituency MP seat in 2013, few people had given him a chance to thrive in the region which had been dominated politically by the then Changamwe MP Ramadhan Kajembe.
Jomvu was curved from the larger Changamwe which Kajembe had reigned politically for close to two decades. But 'Kijana Mwepesi' as he is popularly known was equal to the task.
Badi's first task was to secure the ODM party ticket. But it was not to be as the party had seemingly settled on Kajembe son to fly the party flood. He joined Wiper and used the Kalonzo Musyoka- led party to clinch the seat. He had floored two Kajembe sons and the decades-long political dynasty was under threat.
In the run to the 2017 election, he gravitated towards ODM and became Governor Hassan Joho's key political ally. And in March 2017, Badi who was one of the two Wiper elected MPs in Mombasa officially ditched Wiper for ODM. Just like in 2013, he was to face a Kajembe.
Just like four years ago, Badi floored Mwidani Kajembe, his brother-in-law, for the second tim . And to further upset the Kajembe dynasty, he outshone Karisa Nzai of Jubilee, the older Kajembe's preferred candidate.
Loved by his constituents for his impressive development record, Badi has proved that he is the new sherrif in town and has inherited his father-in-law's political base. Though he is one of the two MPs from the larger Changamwe alongside Omar Mwinyi, but Kijana Mwepesi is the most visible politician from Mombasa's industrial area.