As Embakasi East Member of Parliament Paul Ongili alias Babu Owino roared into politics, clinching a National Assembly position, he was also struggling with drug use amid the success.
In an interview with Kenyans.co.ke, the young parliamentarian revealed that he abused hard liquor, cocaine, and traditional brews but has since remained sober, focusing on his political career and helping his constituents.
Babu narrates that all that wild past was part of his youth, and now he is a transformed national figure who wants to uplift the lives of his electorate, something he feels many leaders including Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja have failed to do.
"The moment you are in your youth, you are very energetic, you want to explore and experience the adventure. I don't regret having been in that life because now it has made me wiser and makes me know it's not good to be involved in such a lifestyle," he detailed.
"I used to drink alcohol, chew miraa, use cocaine, smoke bhang, drink chang'aa, drink busaa, muratina all these things."
The MP says he quit drugs in January 2020. He notes that the lifestyle became overwhelming, which led him to realise that he had reached his breaking point.
Coincidentally, he made the decision at around the same time he was involved in a gun drama at a Nairobi club.
"Having done all this, I knew the juice was not worth all the squeeze. I was just a fan at that moment. It was a decision that I made that enough is enough. From January 2020 to date, I have never drunk alcohol nor touched any hard drugs for that matter," Owino noted.
"Everything is in the state of mind. The moment you decide to do something, you will do it. The moment I decided to stop drug and substance abuse, my conviction was clear."
Owino has risen through the political ranks to become one of the most outspoken members of the Kenyan parliament.
To his supporters, Owino is a self-made politician who started his journey at the University of Nairobi (UoN) corridors of power, serving as the Student Organisation of Nairobi University (SONU) before throwing his hat into national politics.
His critics, however, see the second-term MP as a troublemaker and a loose cannon whose past actions and utterances should disqualify him from holding office.
For this, he is loved and loathed in equal measure, perhaps an indication of his political rising star.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MP has won two elections, thrashing his opponents as he positions himself for higher elective roles.
In the 2017 General Election, he was declared the winner, garnering 46,587 votes. In the 2022 General Election, he retained his position after receiving 57,410 votes, beating his closest competitor, United Democratic Alliance's (UDA) Francis Mureithi who had 29,104 votes.
