Veteran legislator Naomi Shaban has conceded defeat in Taita Taveta parliamentary race.
In a Whatsapp group, the 58-year-old long-running MP said that she had come into terms with Taita Taveta people wanting a new leadership and commended John Bwire 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.
Shaban has been at the helm of the Coastal Constituency for 20 years and she was seeking to retain her seat on a Jubilee party ticket.
As of this morning, Okano was leading based on provisional results.
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.
She was re-elected in 2007 through KANU and served another term before defending the seat for the second time under a National Alliance Party (TNA) ticket in 2013.
Shaban would serve two terms after being re-elected again in the 2017 General Election albeit with 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 Uhuru Kenyatta, where she is in charge of outreach programs.
Meanwhile, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is expected to release the parliamentary results for Taita Taveta today.
