ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna has revealed that he sold socks to fund his law school education.
Speaking exclusively to the Star, Sifuna who is eying the Nairobi Senatorial seat in the 2022 General Election said before rising to national fame, he had his fair share of life struggles.
“I hear people talking about hustling as though some of us have not been there,” he said.
The vibrant ODM Secretary-General said that after earning his law degree in 2006 from the University of Nairobi, the sector underwent some policy changes that required all lawyers seeking to be admitted to the bar to obtain a Diploma from the Kenya School of Law.
“There was no such policy in the years past. But when we just graduated, the policy came in. Our parents were so frustrated because, in their minds, they were done with paying our fees. It was really problematic,” he said.
Sifuna who replaced former Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba as the Chungwa House spokesperson after staging a coup in the Orange party said he was forced to get back to the drawing board to raise the school fee by himself.
He said the policy changes forced him to venture into hawking where he sold socks and mitumba clothes in the streets of Bungoma town to raise the needed school fees.
As though the hawking could not cater for all his needs, Sifuna further ventured into video games to supplement his earnings.
“I operated a video games shop to raise my fees and upkeep myself,” he said.
After all the struggles, Sifuna said it took him another 18 months after graduation to land his first job as a legal officer with a loaf-making company.
The ODM spokesperson revealed that he got his political breakthrough in 2013 after meeting the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (Cord) presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga after the disputed General Election.
