Embakasi East MP Babu Owino Says Power-Sharing Deal With Senator Edwin Sifuna Fell Apart

Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino told K24 TV on Friday November 13, 2026 that an earlier power-sharing agreement with Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna for the Linda Mwananchi movement was not honoured.

He said the original plan, agreed with other members who were leaving the Orange Democratic Movement, would have made Sifuna the presidential candidate and himself the party leader to accommodate both leaders’ ambitions.

Owino added that the arrangement changed without his knowledge, with some members pushing for Sifuna to also assume party leadership, and he questioned the argument that a presidential candidate cannot be party leader.

He invoked former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment, noting Gachagua had said a personal party would have protected him, and cited Kabila Mungazi’s participation in Linda Mwananchi as an example of politicians remaining active without founding a party.

Owino dismissed any competition between the two, stating Sifuna is pursuing the presidency while he is eyeing the Nairobi gubernatorial seat and that competition would arise only if they sought the same elective position.

He argued that politics is about interest, not trust, saying he does not trust friends in politics and that the supreme interest is serving the wananchi.

The report noted that Sifuna’s attempt to register the Linda Mwananchi Movement as a political party faced a setback from the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, leading him to join the Equitable Party, which rebranded as the Linda Mwananchi Movement on Friday November 13, while Owino left the movement and joined the Muungano Party, later rebranded as the Mwananchi Party.

Owino said the initial arrangement would have allowed the party to hold the president accountable and would have provided security for him when political alliances shift.