Phelix Odiwuor Khodhe, more popularly known as Jalang'o / Jalas or Heavy J Baba is a Kenyan Politician- Current member of parliament for

Langata Constituency Lang'ata Constituency is an electoral constituency in Nairobi City County. It is one of the seventeen constituencies in the county, consisting of southern and southwestern areas of Nairobi. Langata constituency had common boundaries with a now-d ...

which he won on an

Orange Democratic Movement The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is a centre-left political party in Kenya. It is the successor of a grassroots people's movement that was formed during the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum campaign. This movement separated in Augus ...

(ODM) Party ticket against his predecessor Hon. Nixon Kiprotich Korir. Prior to his political ambitions, Jalas was also a radio presenter, comedian, actor, events master of ceremonies (MC), talk show host and philanthropist celebrity in Kenya.

Early life and education

Jalas was born on April 27, 1980, in

Homa Bay Homa Bay is a town (and eponymous bay) on the south shore of Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria, in western Kenya. It lies near Mount Homa (in the Luo language ''Got Marahuma'' or ''God Uma'' famous mountain" and Ruma National Park, the latter note ...

town, rural Kenya. For his early education, he attended Homabay Lake Primary School in

Homa Bay County Homa Bay County is a county in the former Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Homa Bay. The county has a population of 1,131,950 (2019 census) and an area of 3,154.7 km2. Lake Victoria is a major source of livelihood ...

and Nyang'oma Boys Secondary School in

Siaya County Siaya County is one of the counties in the former Nyanza Province in western Kenya. It is bordered by Busia County to the north, Kakamega County, and Vihiga County to the northeast and Kisumu County to the southeast. It shares a water border ...

. He later joined

Daystar University Daystar University is a private Christian liberal arts university in Nairobi. Daystar's original campus is close to Nairobi city centre, but there was no room to expand at that location. Therefore, in 1992 a new campus was built at Athi River, ...

where he graduated on 13 November 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in Community Development degree.

Career

Media

Odiwuor appeared as Jalang'o in

Citizen TV Citizen TV is a Kenyan free-to-air television channel owned by Royal Media Services. It broadcasts primarily in English and Swahili. The channel was launched in 1999 and relaunched in June 2006. Royal Media Services also owns iNooro TV and ...

's ''Papa Shirandula'', and that's how he earned this stage name, later shortened to 'Jalas'. He began his career as a radio presenter in 2004, where he worked alongside veteran media personality Caroline Mutoko. He then transitioned to Radio Maisha in 2012, after which he later moved on to Hot 96 FM in 2017 till 2018 when he moved to Radio Milele. In July 2020, Odiwuor went back to where he began his radio career as a morning presenter at Kiss 100 where he was a co-host to Kamene Goro. He also started his own company, Arena Media, which does advertising and marketing. He also does brand ambassador jobs for various corporate brands. Odiwuor has a YouTube channel, Jalang'o TV, where he interviews personalities from various walks of life.

Politics

As a candidate for the

(ODM), he was elected MP for

in the

2022 Kenyan general election General elections were held in Kenya on Tuesday, 9 August 2022. Voters elected the President of Kenya, president, governors, Senate of Kenya, senators, members of the National Assembly (Kenya), National Assembly, and members of county assemblie ...

after defeating his opponent Hon. Nixon Kiprotich Korir.

Controversy

In August 2021, the ''

Daily Nation The ''Daily Nation'' is a Kenyan newspaper. It was founded in 1958 and is published in Nairobi. History The ''Daily Nation'' was started in the year 1958 as a Swahili weekly called ''Taifa'' by the Englishman Charles Hayes. It was bought in 1 ...

'' and ''

The Standard The Standard may refer to: Entertainment * The Standard (band), an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon * ''The Standard'' (novel), a 1934 novel by the Austrian writer Alexander Lernet-Holenia * ''The Standard'' (Tommy Flanagan album), 1980 * ...

'' reported Odiwuor as implicated in being a member of a Nairobi-based

criminal syndicate Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

involved in a variety of

advance-fee scam An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is a common confidence trick. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster claims will be us ...

s including

Black money scam The black money scam, sometimes also known as the "black dollar scam" or "wash wash scam", is a scam where con artists attempt to fraudulently obtain money from a victim by convincing them that piles of banknote-sized paper are real currency that ...

s, sometimes even

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

, contract killings, and enforced kidnappings in Kenya. According to the articles Odiwour is involved in

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

of ill-gotten wealth through legitimate businesses that then receive criminal proceeds as part of sales of the legitimate business and consequently deposited into bank accounts of the legitimate business. He was accused among other members of the gang of being a silent partner in the numerous scams by using publicity and his day job as a

decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''eenden kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to ...

of criminal activities for the gang. According to the articles, the gang engages in violent confrontations, contract killings, mysterious deaths and enforced kidnappings in subsequent cover up activities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odiwour, Phelix Living people 1978 births Kenyan male comedians Kenyan male television actors Talk show characters Kenyan radio presenters Members of the 13th Parliament of Kenya Orange Democratic Movement politicians