Embakasi East MP Babu Owino is stepping back from the frenetic Linda Mwananchi rallies, saying his political attention will now shift to two battles he considers critical to Nairobi’s 2027 contest — his own bid for governor and Edwin Sifuna’s presidential campaign in the city.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Babu said he would not attend every Linda Mwananchi rally going forward, citing a new assignment in Nairobi that will require him to spend more time traversing the city and building support for his gubernatorial bid.
”I’ll attend some Linda Mwananchi rallies but not all…I humbly request Nairobians to support me as their (next) governor,” the Embakasi East MP said.
During the presser, Babu also disclosed that he had acquired a political party well before the emergence of Linda Mwananchi, after it became increasingly clear to him that ODM was positioning itself to hand Governor Johnson Sakaja the party’s governor ticket in 2027.
The party, he said, was acquired with his own political calculations in mind, a position which has now collided with the emerging architecture of Linda Mwananchi.
The movement has been searching for a political vehicle ahead of the 2027 elections, but instead of adopting the party Babu had offered, its principals have settled on a different party.
The emerging expectation that Babu should abandon the party he acquired and fold himself into the new Linda Mwananchi vehicle has not gone down well with the Embakasi East MP.
Babu has made it clear that he intends to contest the Nairobi governorship on his own party’s ticket.
He has also rejected suggestions that he should surrender his political vehicle in order to join the party that Sifuna is expected to use in the presidential race.
Babu, according to insiders, has insisted he has a party, is its leader and has no intention of becoming a subordinate player inside another party.
His preferred arrangement is an opposition coalition in which he participates as a party leader, rather than as an individual politician absorbed into somebody else’s political vehicle.
”Raila Odinga was the last boss I had in ODM,” Owino has repeatedly said
