Babu Owino: Sakaja deserves impeachment
By Joel Masibo, September 4, 2025Embakasi East Member of Parliament Paul Ongili, also known as Babu Owino, has said the embattled Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja deserves impeachment.
Speaking on Kameme Television on Thursday, September 4, 2025, Babu Owino asserted that Governor Sakaja should not be in office for failure to offer Nairobi residents quality service, especially in healthcare, giving an example of Mama Lucy Hospital as one of the facilities neglected by the County Government of Nairobi.
”You cannot play politics over the lives of people. Go to Mama Lucy Hospital and see how patients are suffering. Peole’s lives come first, you cannot be politically relevant when the people are not there. Let people have a better life, then play politics later when time allows. At Mama Lucy Hospital, patients are easing themselves openly; you cannot have X-ray services without Ksh1000. The governor should have gone yesterday,” Babu Owino said.
Additionally, Babu Owino differed with top political brass in the country, ODM leader Raila Odinga and President William Ruto, who intervened in the last minute to rescue Sakaja from impeachment earlier in the week.
President Ruto and the former Prime Minister held a sitting with Nairobi County Members of Parliament (MCAs) from both the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to persuade them against impeaching Sakaja.
On Tuesday, September 2, 2025, Raila held a closed-door meeting with Sakaja and ODM-allied MCAs at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation (JOOF), during which he persuaded them to suspend their push for impeachment. The discussions were aimed at creating space for dialogue and reconciliation between the Governor and the Assembly.
At the same time, UDA Party Leader, President William Ruto, also convened a separate meeting at State House, Nairobi, where he cautioned MCAs allied to the ruling party against pursuing the ouster motion. Both ODM and UDA MCAs had collected over 70 signatures out of 123 in the House, with a bid to present an impeachment motion at the Nairobi County Assembly. They required at least 82 signatures to table an official motion of impeachment.
Following his impeachment survival, Babu Owino has faulted Ruto and Raila for what he terms as saving the governor who has failed to deliver. ”For those saying Sakaja should be given more time in office, what has he not done in three years that he will do in two years?” Babu Owino posed. Meanwhile, Governor Sakaja has been handed a lifeline of two months to put the Nairobi County Assembly in order after surviving his attempted ouster.