‘I am the opposition now!’ MP Babu Owino declares

Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino has now declared himself the last standing opposition leader.

Mr. Owino, who spoke on Citizen TV’s JKLive show on Wednesday night, was responding to a remark by show host Jeff Koinange that the opposition political faction has seemingly become rather nonchalant in its role to keep the government in check.

The outspoken legislator further rubbished claims by fellow show panelist activist Boniface Mwangi that MPs - including those in the opposition - have been bribed by President William Ruto to pass the contentious Finance Bill, 2024.

According to Mr. Mwangi, the additional Ksh.30 million allocated to legislators in the new proposed budget for the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) is tantamount to an attempt to sway them in a particular direction.

“Ruto cannot afford Babu Owino, and that is why Babu on a daily basis comes out clear, guns blazing, against Ruto, because I went to Parliament to represent and work for my people. Because of the kind of lifestyle that I live while growing up, the kind of suffering…I know what it means to lack school fee, because I lacked at some point. So when I’m told that a child has been sent home, I know what it is,” said Mr. Owino.

“When I see a mama mboga, I see my own mother who sold chang’aa to take us to school. When I see a boda boda rider, I see myself. When I see a youth who has lost hope in the slums, I think about myself. Therefore, the challenges that I experienced, I cannot allow other Kenyans to experience, and that is why I come out every other time to defend the rights of those who elected me. And that is why there is the opposition, no matter few in number as at the moment, and there is Kenya Kwanza. I cannot justify the wrongdoings of Kenya Kwanza.”

Show host Jeff Koinange then went ahead to challenge the Embakasi East MP saying; “But Babu, there is no opposition,” to which he responded; “Babu is the opposition now!”