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{
    "id": 503491,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/503491/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 57,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I could see him singing in political parties about mapambano and wondered why a man so full of life could go. He was a man rich and full of life. Does this life have any meaning at all if Sen. Kajwang can just get out and go? The message for me, at a personal level, is that life is not permanent. The stresses we give each other are really not worth it. They say that we are all leaves in the tree of life. Today Sen. Kiraitu Murungi may fall, but siku ingine it is Sen. Wetangula. However, life continues. This has happened to our colleague. I am happy that our former Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, His Excellency Kalonzo Musyoka and other former colleagues in previous Parliaments are with us in the Senate today. All of us will remember that Kajwang was the most hardened when it came to the fight for constitutional reforms and multi-party democracy. Sometimes, this involved street battles which Kajwang was not afraid of. Sen. Kajwang will be remembered as one of the able debaters; a person who kept this Senate alive. He died on duty because he was contributing to the Bill of Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo on security. He was recalling the visit they undertook to Turkana with the former Prime Minister when the Turkana people were invaded by the people from Ethiopia. The police post was being manned by only five people. He was calling for more resources to be given to security forces, especially for the Kenya Police Reservists (KPR). That was Kajwang; a true nationalist. This is a man who fought for issues, causes and for justice in this country. I had the luck of knowing Sen. Kajwang for over 20 years. I must say that over that period, we had our ups and downs. Sometimes we were together, but at times, we were apart. Sometimes we agreed, but at times, we disagreed. However, we kept on talking always. We were friends and our training as lawyers helped us do that. We could distinguish arguments and issues from personalities. I had the privilege to serve with Sen. Kajwang at the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. The day before yesterday, we were planning what questions to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries who appeared before us this morning. Sen. Kajwang was very passionate, especially in matters concerning sugar. I think his constituency is a sugar zone. He had planned to ask some very difficult questions to the Cabinet Secretary. As fate would have it, when the Cabinet Secretary appeared this morning, Kajwang had left us last night. So, Sen. Ndiema and I, tried to reframe the questions, but we could not replace him. Our Committee will feel the big gap as far as Sen. Kajwang is concerned. We first started with Sen. Kajwang in FORD, fighting against dictatorship in this country. We fought very serious battles, of course, under the leadership of the former Prime Minister, Raila Odinga who was a gallant fighter. However, somewhere along the line, they decided to join KANU as NDP and we were left in the Opposition. We criticized them heavily for making that move. I remember that Sen. Kajwang became the Secretary-General and would terrorise us a bit. We then came together in 2002 during the NARC campaigns. Those were the best campaigns that we did together in this country. I wish we could have another one like that. We then came into Government. A few months of being in Government, we disagreed again. You will remember that they called us the Mount Kenya mafia and fought us seriously. 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."
}