Davji Atellah is taking his long-running fight for doctors’ welfare into elective politics, betting that 15 years of representing health workers have given him the experience needed to tackle healthcare, education, jobs and other public-service issues from Parliament.
The KMPDU Secretary General has declared his intention to contest the Lang’ata parliamentary seat on an ODM ticket in the 2027 General Election, saying his experience in the doctors’ union has shown him how decisions made in Parliament affect workers and ordinary citizens.
Atellah says his entry into the race is based on the belief that the National Assembly is a key centre for decisions on healthcare, education, security, roads, water and funding for county governments.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Wednesday, he said many of the problems he has encountered while representing doctors can only be addressed through legislation, budgets and parliamentary oversight.
“If you look into the role of the MP in this country, I will tell you that everything happens in Parliament. Even these issues that we are talking about—the strikes of healthcare workers, the strike for the university lecturers, the issues of access to healthcare, the matters of education, the matters of security, the matters of roads, the matters of water provision, even the county government funds and even county government operations—all these things happen in Parliament,” he said.
Atellah said his years at KMPDU had taught him the importance of engaging lawmakers on policies and budget decisions, especially those affecting the health sector.
He served as a KMPDU branch secretary from 2015 to 2021 before becoming secretary general, a position he has held for six years. He was re-elected to another five-year term in April 2026 after emerging unopposed.
“Having worked for doctors for these 15 years, I have understood that if we have proper representation in Parliament, then the issues of workers and the issues of the citizens will actually be resolved,” Atellah said.
His political entry comes as the Lang’ata parliamentary seat takes shape ahead of the 2027 election. The current MP, Phelix Odiwuor, popularly known as Jalang’o, has said he will seek the Nairobi Senate seat instead of defending Lang’ata.
South C MCA Ibrahim Abbas Khalif is also seeking to move to Parliament. Political alignments and party tickets, however, remain subject to change.
Atellah has already engaged residents and more than 1,000 young people in the constituency as he builds his campaign. He says he will contest on the ODM ticket.
Lang’ata has five wards—Karen, Nairobi West, Mugumoini, South C and Nyayo Highrise—and had a population of 197,489 in the 2019 census, according to the Lang’ata NG-CDF profile.
The constituency has also produced several prominent political figures. It was previously known as Nairobi South Constituency and has been represented by former Vice-President Joseph Murumbi, Philip Leakey, Mwangi Maathai and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who served as its MP from 1992 to 2012. Nixon Korir later held the seat before losing it to Jalang’o in the 2022 election.
For Atellah, the bid also carries a personal connection to the constituency.
He says he was born in Gatwekera in Kibera and lived there until 2000 before moving to stay with his grandparents. He later trained as a doctor and continued living in Lang’ata.
Atellah says support from the constituency helped him pursue his education, while his brother, now a doctor in the United States, received assistance from the Children of Kibera Foundation.
“My aim is actually to ensure that if I get elected as an MP of Lang’ata, then the opportunities I got access to, it's also available for the children of Lang’ata,” he stressed.
He says his agenda will include helping young people identify opportunities in teaching, the military, police service, technical and vocational education and other institutions.
“My aim is to ensure that we have these existing organizations within the wards where we are able to identify the youths. We see which youths are able to go to the teaching space, which youths are able to go to the military, which youths are able to go to the police, and which youths can actually be supported to go to the TVs and to other organizations.”
Atellah said his years representing doctors had convinced him that strong parliamentary representation was central to addressing problems affecting workers and citizens, and he now wants to bring that experience into Lang’ata politics.