Embakasi East Member of Parliament, Paul Ongili alias Babu Owino, has lent his voice to the ongoing debate on who should fill in the vacancy left by the late Kibra MP, Ken Okoth.
Speaking to K24 TV on Tuesday, the vocal lawmaker maintained that since the Kibra MP died a painful death, the seat should be accorded to one of his closest family members.
“Probably one of the family members should be considered because Ken died a painful death and he died a performer,” he stated.
Okoth’s family has reportedly appealed to ODM leader Raila Odinga to consider picking one of their own to take over for the remaining three years.
Several names have so far cropped up in the race to succeed Okoth as the Kibra MP, including his younger brother Imran Okoth, who reports suggest could emerge as the front runner.
Others are Raila’s former aides Eliud Owallo, who unsuccessfully challenged Okoth for the ODM nomination in the last election, and Ketta Onyango, who was responsible for CDF when Raila was Langata MP, as well as former Sarang’ombe MCA Pius K’Otieno.
Former Kasarani MP Elizabeth Ongoro, Irshad Sumra, who was defeated in Embakasi South early this year, Global humanitarian award winner Kennedy Odede and Edwin Sifuna, the ODM secretary-general, are also being mentioned.
When the Late Okoth was unwell and especially when he sought treatment outside the country, his younger brother Imran, is reported to have been his "ears and eyes" on the ground for nearly three years.
Imran also served as Okoth’s personal assistant and was instrumental in bringing to fruition construction of new schools started by the late MP.
Among them is Mbagathi High School, which was built from scratch using Kibra Constituency Development Funds (CDF).
