For mouthy Millie Odhiambo, politics is a huge shouting match
What you need to know:
- The third-term MP is every man’s walking nightmare, especially politicians she believes hold a dim view of women.
- Many people were dismayed by the “honourable” member’s behaviour in an invite-only forum whose invitees had been carefully chosen.
Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona, the indefatigable Suba North MP, never shies away from a challenge. Throw down the gauntlet and she will pick it up. It matters little if the battle involves verbal or physical confrontation.
Within the precincts of the National Assembly, she is simply Millie but in her home county of Homa Bay, she is Amilo Geza Geza Mrembo wa Suba.
She describes herself as fearless; a rhino – “humble and harmless unless attacked”.
The third-term MP is every man’s walking nightmare, especially politicians she believes hold a dim view of women.
She doesn’t live in the world of taboos and is never afraid to speak her mind, no matter the subject.
Never one to take prisoners, she shouts down anyone she doesn’t agree with.
But does she know where or when to stop and let the other party be heard?
“I am a lawyer – an intellectual, if you may, who is also happily a pig while in politics,” Millie once told Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.
Common person
Last Monday, during the launch of the Building Bridges Initiative report at the Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi, when Deputy President William Ruto was delivering his speech, which was interspersed with reasons why the document does not speak to the common person, Millie rose and tried to drown the DP’s voice with shouts.
A video of her shouting down Dr Ruto lit the social media, with divided opinion.
Many people were dismayed by the “honourable” member’s behaviour in an invite-only forum whose invitees had been carefully chosen.
The DP expressed reservations with the provisions related to the proposed amendments to the elections agency, the Senate and the proposed design of the national executive that will include a president, deputy president, a prime minister and two deputies.
But there was little justification for the MP to shout down the DP.
And this is not the first time the MP has disrupted a presidential function. In 2016, when she was the MP for Mbita, she lost her cool as lawmakers allied to the then Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) blocked the entrance to the Chambers and launched a verbal attack on President Uhuru Kenyatta on camera during a session to debate election laws. Standing at the door to the House, Millie yelled her head off, saying she was better than Mr Kenyatta.
Heavy guard
“He does not even compare to me, wacha (let alone) Raila Odinga,” she declared.
The Cord legislators were reacting to “harassment by police” who mounted a heavy guard during the stormy session that was paralysed for over two hours.
Ms Odhiambo, who entered Parliament Buildings barefoot, accused the President of using police to fight the opposition. That day she made good her threat to stop debate on the law even after National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi extended the special sitting into the night.
Once asked about her combative nature, she responded: “In politics, women are always expected to be ‘refined’ even when faced with ‘unrefined’ situations. Michelle Obama is credited with saying, “When they go low, we go high”. But here in Kenya, they do not notice the difference when you go high. Sometimes it requires that when they go low, you go into the pigsty with them then come out, shower and restore sanity.”
