Who Is Junet Mohamed? The National Assembly's Minority Leader

Junet Mohamed (Suna East) has been Minority Leader of the National Assembly since August 2024 and is the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) director of elections. His constituency is in Migori County, and as of 23 September 2026 he said he would defend it in 2027. He is also one of the loudest ODM voices for working with President William Ruto, which makes the word "minority" in his title an odd fit.

Mandera, Lenana and Migori

Wikipedia records that Junet was born on 25 October 1977 in Mandera and that his family moved to South Nyanza for business. He went to Lenana School in Nairobi and took a business administration degree at the University of Nairobi. He was nominated a councillor in 2005 and later served as mayor of the Migori council.

Three terms in Suna East

He took Suna East on the ODM ticket in 2013. Wikipedia notes he was the first Kenyan Somali to win a parliamentary seat in a mainly Luo region. Voters returned him in 2017 and again in 2022, and through most of Raila Odinga's later career Junet was close at hand, one of the late leader's inner circle and a fixture at his campaign events.

After the 2022 election he was Minority Whip. In August 2024, when Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi was nominated Energy Cabinet Secretary, ODM proposed Junet as Minority Leader and the Azimio parliamentary group endorsed him, The Star reported on 6 August 2024. Millie Odhiambo (Suba North) replaced him as whip.

Minority Leader in a broad-based House

ODM went into a broad-based arrangement with Ruto's government in 2024. Its leaders now talk of a formal pact with the United Democratic Alliance (UDA). Junet has defended it more loudly than almost anyone in the party. On 16 September 2026, at the end of Ruto's Nyanza tour in Migori, he pledged support for the broad-based government. On 6 September he mocked opposition leaders for moving "from hotel to hotel" in search of a single candidate, AllAfrica reported.

He and Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah stood together on 11 June 2026 in dismissing the opposition's alternative budget, The Standard reported. See the opposition's People's Budget for what it proposed.

ODM's elections chief

As director of elections, Junet speaks for ODM on who gets the ticket. On 5 July 2026 Junet told Johnson Sakaja (Governor, Nairobi) that ODM would back him for a second term only if he joined the party. "If Sakaja does not join ODM, we will not support him because we have our own candidate for governor," he said, as reported by The Star. On 22 September Sakaja denied claims that he took money to a fundraiser to win Junet's backing.

The impeachment money claim

On 26 July 2026 in Bungoma, Junet alleged that some legislators received money during the October 2024 impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, and named Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot as the "accounting officer". He offered no evidence. On 12 August he denied that he personally received any money. No investigation has substantiated the claims.

At the vetting of the new IEBC commissioners on 31 May 2025, nominee Hassan Noor Hassan disclosed that he is Junet's brother-in-law. Hassan now sits on the commission. See who the IEBC commissioners are.

A fourth term, and the seat-sharing talks

Junet said in August 2026 that he would run for a fourth term in Suna East. Keeping ODM and UDA together through the seat-sharing talks looks harder. ODM leaders have demanded zoning and a 50-50 split of government, and the flashpoints named by The Star on 8 September included Nairobi, Mombasa and Kajiado. For the background, see ODM after Raila Odinga and the ten-point UDA-ODM agenda. A pre-coalition agreement was expected after ODM's memorial tour for Raila Odinga, which was scheduled to end in Nairobi on 31 October 2026.