When the name Babu is mentioned, what comes to mind for most Kenyans is controversial Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.
Babu Owino made a name for himself during his tenure at the University of Nairobi where he became a trade mark for his style of politics.
A political orator, Babu Owino captured the minds and hearts of many comrades with his bombastic words.However, 10 years before this writer was born Nakuru had its own Babu; Muhia Babu Wood.
Babu Wood was the MP for Nakuru North the current Subukia constituency back in 1966.
Nakuru North was a big constituency which later gave birth to Bahati and Rongai constituencies.
Nakuru’s Babu, just like his namesake in Embakassi, was a firebrand politician.
He was elected on a KADU and Kanu ticket before he was ousted by Kihika Kimani, another notorious Kanu sycophant, in 1974.
Koigi wa Wamwere, one of Nakuru’s seasoned politicians, in his book I Refuse to Die: My Journey for Freedom remembers his father warning him against joking with people like Babu.
“On our way home, my father told me fighting rich powerful and corrupt politicians like Babu Wood is like fighting porcupines. They eat your crops and you must chase them out of your garden. But they will fire quills and kill you if you do not take cover. I am not a politician, but in politics I believe it is no different. You must take very good care,” Koigi says in page 167.
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