First time lawmakers speak on change of status

Ms Ruweida Mohammed was flying tourists to the Maasai Mara when she looked outside her window and the reality of the poverty she had always known existed hit her in the face.

She had been a pilot for 15 years with Mombasa Air Safari and describes that look outside her window as the moment she became convinced a career change was necessary.

Mrs Mohammed would in August be elected Woman Representative for Lamu County, a decision she says she does not regret so far.

“Piloting does not go to the people directly. I wanted to do something that has an immediate impact on the people and I settled on politics,” she told the Daily Nation in an interview.

“People respected me a lot when I was a pilot than they do now. In fact, people harass me at social functions unlike before,” she said.

OTIENDE AMOLLO
For Otiende Amollo, who was the first chairman of the Commission on Administrative Justice, otherwise known as the Office of the Ombudsman, his greatest regret after joining politics is that his wealth of experience in the legal world will no longer be fully utilised.

He points out that in Parliament, professional output or argument does not count as, at the end of the day, everything will be subjected to a vote and the majority will carry the day.

“As the Ombudsman, my professional output was fully useful every day but, for now, I only use 10 per cent of my legal knowledge,” Dr Amollo said.

ELECTION PETITION
The MP for Rarieda was in the limelight in August when he represented Nasa leader Raila Odinga in his successful petition against the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Despite the many changes he has gone through, from his time as a member of the Committee of Experts that drafted the Constitution to his job as Ombudsman, he has found the switch to politics rather difficult to deal with.

“In my last job, I would solve people’s problems administratively but now nearly all the problems I solve are in terms of money.