Former University of Nairobi student leader Babu Owino has threatened to take legal action against Jackal News over a defamatory article which linked him to the 2011 murder of a female UoN student.
Babu, a front-runner candidate in the forth-coming Sonu polls set for March has said students politics occurs inside the university and it is up to the students of the University of Nairobi to make the final decision on who leads them.
“The students of the University of Nairobi are smarter than all the writers of that rag (Jackal) they will prove it wrong. Defamation in this day and age has a price,” said an angry Babu.
On the allegations that he knew ‘something’ on the murder of Keino, Babu had this to say:
“It really shocks me that someone can imagine a student leader can do that. . .Students of the University of Nairobi know the events that surrounded the lose of that comrade; and what happened thereafter, so Jackal News cannot dupe them; however, I have a reputation outside students politics at the university and that’s what they (Jackal News) intended to injure, that I will protect and fight to the end,” said Babu.
Jackal News had run a story blaming the demise of the late Mercy Keino on Babu Owino despite an ongoing inquest on the circumstances of the late student’s death. Mercy Keino’s body was found along Waiyaki Way after a night party at Wasini Luxury Homes – an upmarket leisure apartments in Nairobi frequented by the city’s wealthiest revellers; MPs and corporate magnets.
Students who were at the institution during the time that Mercy was fatefully murdered have defended Babu, saying no student leader can stop such events, especially in a university at the centre of a capital city.
“University is not like secondary schools were a roll call is taken every time. Mercy went to drink in Westlands with people like Kabogo (current Kiambu governor) and Keter (Charles Keter, current Kericho Senator) so how could Babu have stopped her? She was a Master’s student; Babu was an undergraduate, how was he in charge of her leisure?”
The former student reveals that after the incident, an inquest was called and the police took over. All students were urged to remain peaceful and wait for the outcome of the police investigations.
“Was Babu able to form a parallel investigative team? Using which law? Which precedents. . .Babu is also a student, I think Jackal News went too far,” added this former student, working in organization in Nairobi.
Another student disputes Jackal News account that Babu made his money after Keino murder.
“Babu joined the university of Nairobi having made his money. He didn’t just change all-over sudden to have his money after Keino was murdered. It would have ended by now. If anything, UoN has more wealthy students than Babu. Why the big fuss? It’s all politics.”
University of Nairobi allows bona fide students to vie in the elections without term limits. Sonu is a quasi-autonomous body representing all UoN students in various university organs. It also manages students affairs.
In the Kenya’s democratization process, Sonu has churned out great 2nd liberation and current leaders – both in government and opposition – which makes the body the single largest incubator for future political leaders in Kenya.
Sonu elections are often a high-stakes battle with the usual mudslinging that characterizes national politics. Most supporters of Babu believes the article was sponsored by one of his opponents to hoodwink first and second year students who were not at the university when the events occurred.
Attempts to reach these opponents have failed as their calls went unanswered.
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