Is Babu Owino facing rejection from the comrades? Do the comrades feel like they were sold out? In a post addressed to the comrades, Babu asks for forgiveness and admits that he did not know what he was doing. A plain apology if you ask me. The comrades feel like Embakasi East constituency MP Babu Owino used them for votes during the 2017 election. This issue has been trending on comrade’s platforms for quite a while with the comrades asking Babu to apologise for using the students to facilitate his win in the 2017 general elections.
In a post on the comrade’s platform on Facebook popularly known as New Comrade’s Forum, Owiti Owayo writes out his ‘facts’ and questions the loyalty of the comrades back in 2017 when H.E Babu Owino was vying for the Embakasi East Constituency MP seat. He writes, ‘ In Embakasi East Constituency as at 2017, there were 143k registered voters. It’s on records that the current MP, Hon Babu Owino garnered close to 50k of the votes cast. Is it true that only 500 comrades registered as voters over there and that out of this no., only 100 comrades showed up on the day of election? Is it also true that during 2017 elections, someone very influential advised comrades to register in Westland and Starehe Constituencies in order to scuttle Owino’s outright victory in EE? If that’s the case, can we then deduce that some comrades betrayed Hon Babu Owino the very last minute and that he skillfully worked hard up the ladder?’
Owiti is sharply interjected by Okung Ndege who asks him to stop insulting the intelligence of comrades. In Ndege’s opinion, Owiti has false information, feeding the comrade’s with lies to please someone. He asks him to be a free thinker with objectivity. He goes ahead to tell Owiti that he is a ‘puppet,’ with guys that tell him what to post, how to post it, where to put commas, full stops etc. Ndege was a key player in Babu Owino’s political journey, working as his PA. “The strategy was simple, get the ODM nomination by any means necessary.” He says, adding that the input of comrades during the ODM nomination gave Babu a landslide victory. Without comrades, Babu would not have won ODM nomination and without ODM ticket, Babu would not have been elected MP. This shows that both Babu was dependent on the comrades as they brought the numbers and the influence.
Some comrades agree with Ndege, adding that Babu indeed received some support from the comrades but did all the hard work in getting the Embakasi East resident’s votes and support to victory. The comrades in support of Babu argue that Embakasi East is, in fact, an ODM zone and Babu Owino was better placed to win the seat, even without the comrade’s input. Aboge Vincent, a student on the platform adds that Babu was being fought by all big political bigwigs and that could have resulted to involving his die-hard comrades. Either way, the constituent’s citizens knew he would carry the MP title home due to his social effect and love by the people who enjoyed his slogans ‘Tibim.’ Also, the fact that Raila the ODM boss had already endorsed and embraced Babu as one of his generals in the 2017 polls. However, other students believe that Babu is good for nothing individual who rode on the SONU influence to earn the Embakasi East seat. A certain Mark Omosa a part of the parade adds that Babu is good for nothing guy. He argues that comrades’ were killed by him by overstaying in SONU as if he was permanent. Áll these current problems at the University of Nairobi were planted by the feeble Babu.
The latest comments have shown a sharp division with some members of the comrades leaning towards team viva led by Ndege Fredrick while another section leaning towards team tibim which is associated with Babu Owino. Mike Jacobs ‘MJ’ and Ndege have both expressed interest in vying for parliamentary positions in Lang’ata and Embakasi East which further magnifies the split thus threatening Babu’s political influence especially among comrades.
