Former Bahari MP Benedict Gunda passes on after long illness

Kenya: Former Bahari Member of Parliament Benedict Fondo Gunda has died after a long illness.

Gunda, who served as an MP between 2007 and 2012 after ousting former MP Joe Khamisi, has been unwell for four years and died at a Nairobi hospital on Tuesday morning, where he had been rushed to for medication.

He developed health problems before the last general elections and had travelled to India several times for specialised treatment.

Family members told The Standard that Gunda developed complications and was rushed to hospital and placed in the Intensive Care Unit and where he died while undergoing treatment.

According to Gunda's former campaign coordinator Joseph
Chilumo, Gunda died aged 72 years and has been treated in Nairobi and India.

"The reports I have is that former Bahari MP Benedict Fondo Gunda, who has been ill for some time now, has died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nairobi," said Chilumo.

Chilumo said the deceased was a dedicated member of the Orange Democratic Movement, who also held the post of treasurer for the party in Kilifi County.

Gunda fought for land rights of the local squatters in Kilifi and Coast and lobbied the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission IEBC to split Bahari constituency into two for the 2013 election; Kilifi South and Kilifi North.

He lost the ODM primaries to Kilifi South MP Mustafa Iddi. He defected to a separate political party but lost the 2013 elections.

Gunda hails from Kizingo village in Kilifi county.