Najib Balala

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Najib Balala

Member of Parliament for Mvita
In office 2002 – current
Preceded by	Sharrif Nassir
Succeeded by	current

Born	20 September 1967 (1967-09-20) (age 40) Mombasa
Nationality	Kenyan
Political party	Orange Democratic Movement
Spouse	Naja Balala
Children	Nabeel Balala, Naim Balala, Naila Balala
Alma mater	University of Toronto
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Muslim
Website	Najib Balala

Najib Balala (Ar. نجيب بلعلاء > Cl.Ar. أبا العلاء) (born 20 September 1967 in Mombasa) is a Kenyan politician. He is a M.P. from Mvita Constituency.

[edit] Personal

A descendant of immigrants from the Hadhramaut, Balala attended the Serani Boys School, Kakamega High School. Balala speaks Swahili, Arabic and English.

[edit] Politics

From 1998-2002, Balala served as mayor of Mombasa.

Initially, he represented the ruling KANU party, but decamped to newly created Liberal Democratic Party before the 2002 elections. LDP itself was part of the NARC coalition, which won the elections led by Mwai Kibaki, who became the new president. Balala himself won Mvita parliamentary seat, which is within Mombasa. He also served at various times as Minister for Gender, Sports Culture and Social Services, Minister for Labour and Minister of State for National Heritage.

Regarding to 2005 constitutional referendum, Balala and other LDP members opposed the proposed constitution. The proposal was rejected by the electorate, and as a result Kibaki kicked LDP out of the government. Balala is now a member of the Orange Democratic Movement and supporter of presidential candidate of Raila Odinga in the 2007 presidential election.