Losing a total of 5000 plus votes in the disputed Students Organisation of Nairobi University (SONU) election is Babu Owino’s biggest regret.
However, Babu was sworn in after being affirmed the winner in the ardently contested election blemished with rigging claims.
“There are 5000 plus votes that my competitors got that I did not get. 3, 000 for Suraj and 2, 000 for Jacobs. I deeply regret!” said Owino, who further rebutted claims that he was tangled in election derelictions.
“When they say that I rigged, University of Nairobi has 11 campuses – nine in Nairobi, one in Kisumu and another in Mombasa. I won in 10 out of the 11 campuses. My key opponent, Mike Jacobs won in the main campus only with a difference of 200 votes,” he said.
Owino claims he was re-elected as the chairperson of the UoN’s SGC because parents and students of UoN love him, and that in 2017 he might choose to renounce power to a worthy successor if he gets one.
“I am like the Paul Kagame of UoN. Kagame has been performing in Rwanda and that is why Rwandans voted positively in a referendum that will make Kagame eligible to vie as president of Rwanda for a third term in 2017,’’ he said.
“I will probably hand over power next year. My plan was to serve at the helm of UoN students’ leadership for five years – in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 – but I’m considering surrendering after my fourth years in office. I’d donate one year (2017) to one of my comrades if only I’d get a strong person who can serve the comrades’ interests. If I don’t, I will be on the 2017 SONU ballot again to complete my five years,” Owino held.
Owino, who is currently a third year Bachelor of Law student said he will be vying for the the Embakasi East parliamentary sear and also serve as the SONU chair in case he fails to get a well-intentioned successor.
“In 2017 if I don’t get someone to hand over power to, I will vie in SONU election in April and in August vie for Embakasi East parliamentary seat; so I will be an MP and SONU Chair at the same time; I am a Jack of all trades.”
Mike Jacobs on the other hands maintains it is time for Owino to hand over power.
“He has vied four times and I think that is just enough; everybody should be given a chance. If he has not been able to bring change, then it has been a wasted time. We want things to be different in society. We have been stagnant for the last three years, same problems, same chairman, same people; we just need progress,” said Jacobs, a fourth-year student.