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"content": "we hold simultaneous elections, but because of multiple memberships, the elections will be consecutive; one after the other. Therefore, it is desirable and important that we set aside Thursday to hold these elections. I hope that this will find favour with the honourable colleagues. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Saturday, the ended weekend, was a sad day in this country, in the lives of many Kenyans. The news of the passing on of Sen. Mutula Kilonzo, the Senator for Makueni County, came as a total shocker to many people. The circumstances under which we got to hear he met his death are suspicious, baffling and require thorough investigations for Kenyans to allay any fears that there was foul play. This is because we live in a country that is not strange or new to mysterious deaths, particularly of leaders and politicians. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Mutula Kilonzo that I knew was a great man. I first met him in 1981 when my very good friend, Mumo Matemu, took me to his office to enroll me as his pupil and him as my pupil master. I did my pupilage with him and we bonded immediately and have remained great friends since. Sen. Mutula is a man who will be missed by all. He believed in saying what he meant and meaning what he said at all times. He never flattered anybody and was a go-getter for virtually everything he did. If you go to the Ministry of Education, those who have been there for a long time will tell you without hesitation that he was the best Minister for Education that they ever had. If you go to the Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs, a Ministry that has run through difficulties over and over, Mutula excelled there. He did this country proud by mid-wifing, with others the delivery of the new Constitution. It should not be lost that when this country was at its lowest ebb in our political history, after the madness that followed the elections of 2007, Mutula, other colleagues and I, were those charged with the responsibility of sitting with the Panel of Eminent African Persons to bring normalcy to the country. Mutula, again, showed his prowess in negotiations, conviction and patriotism; leading to the signing of the National Accord. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when we were formulating the CORD Alliance, Mutula with James Orengo, Johnson Muthama, David Musila, David Eseli and others were there working overnight, to make sure that they delivered an agreement that bound all of us to go through the elections. Anytime that Mutula stood in Parliament to speak, and it was not many times because he only spoke when it was necessary to speak, he convinced everybody that he had his facts, law and decorum at his fingertips. Mr. Speaker, Sir, everybody in this country knows that we have lost a great man. Mutula never hesitated to speak his mind even on matters he knew would ruffle feathers or were touching on the high and mighty. In a country where we are bedeviled with hypocrisy and people engaging in praise-singing for the sake of it to attract support and other things, Mutula never shied away from calling a spade a spade and not a big spoon. Though Mutula is gone, the ideals that he stood for will live way beyond him. I want to urge this Senate that being a creation of among other people, Mutula’s tremendous efforts and commitment to devolution in this country and delivery of the new Constitution, this House unanimously registers its condolences in the annals of our records that we have lost one of the greatest minds in this country. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}