Mwalimu Masudi Mwahima was a Mombasa-based Kenyan politician. He belonged to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and was elected to represent the Likoni Constituency in the National Assembly of Kenya since the 2007 Kenyan parliamentary election. Mwahima began his political life in 1987 when he was elected as a councilor in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa, representing Shika Adabu ward. He went on to become deputy mayor of the council in 1997 under long-serving mayor Ahmed Mwidani and then again under mayor Najib Balala. He eventually replaced Najib Balala as mayor, a position he held from 1999 to 2002 after Balala had resigned due to issues with councilors and the ruling KANU party.
Mwahima had amazing oratory skills both in Kiswahili and English even though he never had any formal education. He was to sit his KCSE exams in kwale High School while he was serving as mayor and scored a mean grade of E.
In 1997 Mwahima became the chairman of the Likoni division of Kenya’s then-ruling party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU). He was expelled from KANU in 2002 after pledging allegiance to Simeon Nyachae of the opposition’s Ford People party. He stood as a Ford People candidate for the Likoni Constituency of the Kenyan National Assembly in the 2002 Kenyan general election, but lost to Suleiman Shakombo of the National Rainbow Coalition.
Mwahima contested the same seat in the 2007 general election, this time representing the Orange Democratic Movement party led by Raila Odinga. He defeated Shakombo, who had been the Heritage Minister under President Mwai Kibaki in the previous government. Early in his tenure he was involved in a row with Odinga, who by then had become prime minister in the coalition government. Odinga was seeking to appoint a non-Coast Province leader of the Kenya Ports Authority, a move which was opposed by Mwahima and the province’s five other Coast MPs who felt that the role should be in the hands of a local. Relations between the six MPs and Odinga remained tense in subsequent years, and they appeared on the verge of leaving ODM and aligning with William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta, rivals of Odinga. They re-pledged their allegiance to ODM at a public reconciliation in 2011.
Mwahima retained his seat in the 2013 general election, polling a total of 18,258 votes. Shakombo, representing the United Republican Party was again his nearest challenger, with 7,009 votes, closely followed by Bernard Odhiambo Waore of The Independent Party. He was ousted as Likoni MP by the Honorable Mishi Mboko in the 2017 General elections. The ate Mwahima was a driving force behind the land issue that involved 930 acres of Waitiki’s farm in Likoni and the right of the residents claim to it.
Mwahima died on 25 August 2020 at his home in Likoni due to asthmatic complications though he had also been battling hypertension. His death was barely three weeks after the passing on of his contemporary from Changamwe, Ramadhan Kajembe who died due to COVID-19. He is survived by his widow, Mwanajuma, and nine children. Mwahima secondary and Mwahima Hospital are named in his honor.