By Hope Barbra
Behind the scenes of the success story of Embakasi East MP Babu Owino and trophy laden trolley in his management of national government constituency development funds and bursary awards, is his constituency manager.
In him, Babu has scaled the height and received a clean bill of health from the Auditor General over the implementation of projects in his constituency.
Similarly, through his astute management prowess and skills, Babu has been credited as the best performing MP by various opinion polls for three years running.
In Babu’s safe glove, is the son of a former chief, Mr. Victor Mbaka, the soft spoken, workaholic, performer and non-controversial NG-CDF manager of Embakasi East and now also Makadara constituency.
Mbaka an alumnus of the university of Nairobi, has cut his teeth as one of the best performing CDF managers in the country and this explains why Makadara MP George Aladwa sought for his service to help propel his constituency up the ladder.
Despite Members of Parliament being key figures in fostering the development agenda of their constituency through the utilization of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) allocated from the national kitty, the CDF managers are actually the drivers of the agenda and actual implementation.
In a political landscape often marred by scandals and the misuse of public resources, Babu has emerged as a beacon of integrity and effective leadership.
The Auditor General’s report highlighted clean MPs in the last report in exemplary NG-CDF utilization  to include  Babu Owino of Embakasi East, Mavoko MP Patrick Makau,  Ndindi Nyoro of Kiharu, and Gathoni Wamuchomba of Githunguri.
In early 2025, the MP was ranked by InfoTrack, a research firm, as the best performing MP in Kenya.
Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino during protests in the Nairobi CBD on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
In early 2025, the MP was ranked by InfoTrack, a research firm, as the best performing MP in Kenya.
Info Track revealed that he had a 72 per cent approval rating based on a survey involved at least 40,000 respondents across all 47 counties.
He has also since been recognized by Politrack Africa as the best MP in Kenya in their 2025 Star Leaders Awards.
In the wings of all the achievements, Mbaka has been pivotal having in Babu’s story and inherited the management skills from his father, retired senior chief Selemis Ouma Mbaka of Konuonga location.
Ouma served the people and the government  with dedication as a member of various school boards, celebrated motivation speaker and former chairperson of all chiefs in the constituency.
The youthful, Mbaka, who has expressed interest in the vacant Kasipul parliamentary seat in the November by-election wants to replace the slain MP Charles Ongondo Were.
Kasipul was reputed during the tenure of the first MP Joseph Oyugi Magwanga as one of the top performing constituencies. Magwanga was  viewed by the constituents as one of the best performing members of parliament.
But in 2017 when Magwanga opted to contest for Homabay gubernatorial seat, the late Were was elected the MP and won a second term on ODM ticket.
During Were’s tenure, it was marked by acts of political thuggeries and violence that left several killed and maimed and this made the constituency to be flagged by government as security hotspot.
Mbaka who will fight with other aspirants for the ODM ticket currently enjoys the support of the professionals who see him as sober, mature and professional capable of turning the fortunes of the constituency.
Through his experience in the management of NG-CDF, he intends to replicate the same in Kasipul and to raise the bar through people driven service and accountability.
“I am a people servant. I understand what it takes to make a constituency functional in terms of service delivery and projects implementation.
I am capable of making Kasipul to be among the top performers and I have the template. What I only seek, is the mandate of the people.
I am a peace lover and interested in economic empowerment of our people, access to education and support to the needy and vulnerable in the society.
We can make Kasipul great and that is my commitment,” he said.
The constituency has five wards namely West Kasipul, Central, south, East and West Kamagak.
ODM has already issued notice to members to verify their membership ahead of the by-election and the campaigns have picked up in the area.
