Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has taken a swipe at Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja over his recent request to President William Ruto for a chapati-making machine capable of producing 1 million chapatis daily.
In a statement on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, Babu Owino questioned Sakaja’s priorities, arguing that Nairobians are grappling with far more pressing issues that demand urgent intervention.
He accused the governor of overlooking the city’s real struggles while focusing on non-essential projects.
“Of all the things that are disturbing Nairobians, Sakaja asked for a chapati printing machine from the President to print 1 million chapos in a day. He couldn’t see that there is no proper drainage and there are poor roads,” Babu Owino stated.
The outspoken legislator also pointed out Nairobi’s deep-rooted problems, including a struggling healthcare system, water shortages, and unemployment.
Also Read – Babu Owino Criticizes Sakaja, Calls Him an Embarrassment to Young People
“He couldn’t see that the Health sector in Nairobi is unhealthy, he couldn’t see that there’s no sufficient supply of water, he couldn’t see that there are no jobs for the youth, men and women in Nairobi. Maajabu ya musa,” he added.
Babu Owino further warned that mass-producing chapatis through automation could hurt small businesses, particularly women who rely on selling chapatis to earn a living.
“How will Mama Chapati survive if her job is given to a machine?” he questioned.
Saboti Constituency Member of Parliament Caleb Amisi also piled on the Sakaja criticism, mocking his Chapati request as a “revolutionary idea”.
“A governor of the biggest regional capital city, whose GDP is more or equal to about 15 African countries, boasts of chapatis as his main economic activity and legacy project.
“He even requests the head of state to forget underground speed train system,over pass roads around the city,water points across residences, but instead to buy him a brand new monstrous gigantic chapati making machine to help him make 1,000,000 chapatis per minute;and the voters and citizens still line up the streets to cheer him for such a revolutionary idea since Vasco da Gama traversed the cape of Good hope . Tell me if these are not signs of the end of time,” Amisi wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
