Babu Owino
Paul Ongili Owino, also known as Babu Owino, is a Kenyan politician and member of parliament for Embakasi East Constituency. He gained media recognition the chairperson of Students Organisation of Nairobi University. He is also an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
Early life and education
Owino attended Central Primary School. From 2003 to 2006 he joined Kisumu Boys' Secondary School.In 2008, he joined the University of Nairobi for a bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science and graduated with First Class Honors in 2012. He later pursued a Master’s in Actuarial Science. In 2013, he went back to Nairobi University to pursue a degree in Law.
Political career
In 2011 he was elected as the chairperson of the Student Organisation of Nairobi University. His leadership revived student activism in UoN, a tenure that witnessed high activity in matters student leadership and student welfare. He still advocates for student leadership matters even after his exit upon graduating from the university.On 31 August 2017, he was elected as a member of parliament for Embakasi East Constituency. In August 2022 he got re-elected for a second term as Embakasi East MP where he currently serves as its legislator. He is a lifetime member of the ODM Party.
Legal career
On 23 May 2025, Owino was admitted to the bar as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya. He declared his admission as the beginning of a new chapter in his political and social justice crusade.Personal life
Owino is a husband to Frida Muthoni with whom they have two daughters. Babu also has another child from a previous relationship with an unnamed woman, making him the father of three biological children.Controversy
Attempted murder
In January 2020, Owino was arrested for shooting an unarmed nightclub DJ in the neck at close range while at B-Club, a popular nightclub in the Kilimani area in Nairobi. Owino was charged with attempted murder. He was jailed for 7 days and is currently out on bail pending completion of the case. According to Owino, he acted in self defence after he was provoked. A video of the shooting was published by several media, leading the DCI to announce that his office will charge him with attempted murder because it was clear he intended to kill the man. In the video, Babu is seen shooting Felix Orinda, also known as DJ Evolve, and dragging his body out of the night club with other unidentified persons.In December 2021, Owino reportedly entered a civil agreement with the victim out of capital crimes of attempted murder he committed against the victim of the shooting including purchase of cars, a house and hospital bills and a series of payments to the victim. Owino attracted criticism for being drafted into the next government by continuing a never ending pattern of impunity where a number of politicians engage in capital crimes of murder, rape and even convicted of corruption crimes and are conveniently left unpunished because of corruption and impunity in Kenya, then later commit the same crimes against other members of the public.
Babu joins a string of elected Kenyan politicians with criminal records that have their criminal records mysteriously end for them to be conveniently allowed to pay out of crimes. In 2017, Starehe MP Jaguar, was also convicted of killing two people by vehicular manslaughter, he was fined ksh 40,000 and barred from driving for one year.
The courts have been criticised for minimising inconveniences to Owino owing to bizarre legal, sometimes unconstitutional but politically convenient provisions such as enabling bail payment of attempted murder in installments, accommodations not offered to ordinary Kenyans because of political patronage of impunity and corruption. The magistrate's ruling was also criticised for allowing restorative justice to the victim, in a capital offence without first getting punishment that would deter Owino from repeating the same crimes as an elected official against other members of the public.