Nairobi Senator Edwin Watenya Sifuna has established himself as a resilient politician and lawyer adept at navigating Kenya's political landscape. Born in 1982 in Kakamega County, he began his education there before earning a law degree from the University of Nairobi. His political journey started in 2013, culminating in a senatorial win in 2022.
Edwin Watenya Sifuna was born on May 22, 1982, at St Mary’s Hospital in Mumias, Kakamega County. His father served as a public servant in the former municipal council, while his mother was a primary school teacher. His uncle, Lawrence Sifuna, represented the Bumala parliamentary constituency as a politician.
Sifuna started his education at Kakamega Township Primary School, then attended Musingu High School where he sat for the KCSE exams. He earned a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Nairobi in 2006. In 2007, he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma from the Kenya School of Law, followed by pupillage at Kairu & McCourt Advocates. He was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court in 2008.
His political career became prominent in 2013 when he joined the CORD coalition as a member of its technical and advisory committee. He continued this role in the NASA coalition. In 2017, he sought the Kanduyi MP nomination on an ODM ticket but lost in the primaries. ODM nominated him for the Nairobi senatorial seat, where he secured over 674,000 votes but lost to Johnson Sakaja.
In 2018, he was appointed ODM Secretary General, succeeding Ababu Namwamba, and emerged as a sharp spokesperson and defender of multiparty democracy principles. In 2019, he was elected Deputy Chairperson of the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD). In the 2022 general election, he won the Nairobi senatorial seat with 716,876 votes and now serves as senator and Deputy Minority Leader in the Senate.
On his website, Sifuna states: “Sifuna is not an ordinary politician. He is a lawyer raised with values of justice and equality since childhood, principles that guided him to study Law and later enter politics to fight for ordinary Kenyans.”
