Please leave Kip Murkomen alone with his watch costing Ksh900,000, a shoe of Ksh80,000 and some tie of Ksh20,000.
Please leave Siaya Governor James Orengo alone with his Versace Barocco Silk Shirt worth close to a quarter a million, which he was seen wearing at a traditional wedding ceremony in Vihiga County last year.
I don’t think you should leave President Ruto alone with his Stefano Ricci matted crocodile leather belt worth approximately Ksh400,000, so let’s put His Excellency aside for a while. He is already going through enough from the Gen Zs.
Allow me now to tell you about Babu Owino: Did you know that Babu Owino, the member of parliament for Embakasi East Constituency, spent over Ksh15m to campaign when he was still a student at the University of Nairobi (UoN) in 2015? 15m for a million, not metres. Nine years ago, the 34-year-old lawmaker blew a cool Ksh15 million to fund his third run for the Chairman’s position at the Students Organization of Nairobi University (SONU).
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For your info, Babu Owino, whose real name is Paul Ongili Owino, born October 10, 1989, first graduated with First-Class Honours in Actuarial Science from UoN in 2012 and was merely 22 years old when he first led SONU in 2011 during his final year as a student pursuing Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science.
Two years after graduating, he rejoined the same UoN in 2014 to pursue his second degree in law and again, noting that he was once a SONU Chairperson during his time as an actuarial student, as a fresher studying Bachelor of Law (LL.B), he was on the SONU ballot that year contesting for the same seat and he won. For his campaigns, the Standard reported that he used Ksh4 million, which “came from contributions by students and friends.”
During the period that he was out of school, Denis Kiogora Dmk and Zack Kinuthia, the former Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Education during Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure, had served one term each in that capacity in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Babu Owino took over from them for his second term, which he served diligently.
Because of the good leader he was, as per the comrades of UoN at that time, he went for the seat again the following year in 2015, for the third time, to break the record as the only permissible and cleared SONU chairmanship candidate to vie three times against the very unclear UoN student leaders constitution, according to him and his supporters.
His third s**b saw some Ksh15,465,000 gone, but (most) was not used to massage the hands of the comrades and to line their pockets for support, as you might think, because it was well budgeted for:
In Babu Owino’s campaign budget that clearly outlined the maximum use of each shilling, a big chunk of it, about Ksh6 million, went to the essentials like banners, posters, flyers, t-shirts, office supplies, hiring social media campaigners, roadshow trucks, and getting a public address system.
He laid out Ksh250,000 to purchase flight tickets to other UoN campuses in Kisumu and Mombasa to mobilise support. Presumably, because these flights would be boring as, reportedly, thick thighs save lives, the outspoken student leader of his time forked some Ksh2,200,000 to get the help of 20 female student supporters in 11 constituent campuses who were paid Ksh200 every day for 50 days to provide the ambient environment for tasteful campaigns that would maybe lead to overwhelming support, you know.
Also, Babu Owino donated Ksh1 million to other SONU candidates, and after the elections, he won with a landslide victory like normal.
As a leader, he was loved because he always echoed the problems faced by comrades not only in UoN but also in Kenya as a general.
During his tenure as the SONU Chair, university fees were moderate, and HELB used to be dispatched earlier, unlike now.
When his third term ended, he contested for the fourth time in 2017 and clinched the seat after outvoting rivals Suraj Mohamed and Mike Jacobs with over 10,000 votes.
However, he stepped down shortly after winning ODM nominations for the Embakasi East parliamentary seat in preparations for the General Elections in August of that year.
Babu Owino won the parliamentary elections to become the Embakasi East MP, a position he continues to hold after emerging triumphant once more in the recent 2022 polls.
Earlier in 2013, he had been in the Westlands parliamentary race but lost the bid.
Immediately after his exit as the SONU Chair, SONU was changed to become the University of Nairobi Students Association (UNSA) after getting a stronger constitution, and its executive leadership is allowed to hold office for a term of one year and is legible for re-election only once.
