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{
"id": 768981,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/768981/?format=api",
"text_counter": 87,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "December 6, 2017 SENATE DEBATES 12 The Senate Minority Leader",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to join you, the House and the country in eulogizing the passing on of Hon. Francis Nyenze, the MP for Kitui West; the constituency that he has served with distinction for four terms. The late Hon. Francis Nyenze was a distinguished and valued member of our Coalition, NASA. In the last Parliament, he was the Leader of Minority in the National Assembly; a job he discharged with absolute distinction and success for the full term. No single occasion did I, as his leader in Parliament, get any complain of any nature about the manner in which he shepherded the flock of CORD, which included the distinguished Senator who has just been speaking extravagantly about Hon. Kalonzo joining Jubilee, which is wishful thinking. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Hon. Francis Nyenze, now deceased, has been a Minister in this Country serving under Mzee Moi for two terms as Minister for Environment and Minister for Heritage and Sports. Even then, at a fairly young age, he was visibly a committed patriot; a hard worker and a politician who displayed the capacity and flair of construction of bridges between individuals and communities, which would bring harmony to this country. I have visited the late Hon. Nyenze in his home in Kabati; I have campaigned with him and for him and I can tell this House and the country that he was immensely popular at the grassroots in his Kitui West Constituency and in his home in Kabati. I remember flying into Kabati to campaign for CORD then and for him and one or two of his opponents came forward and pronounced publicly that due to the immense popularity of Hon. Francis Nyenze, they were stepping down from the contest and would support him to be their MP. Very few politicians get that kind of privilege from their opponents during campaigns. There could be back room deals that pull out opponents but when they come to the fore, in the presence of national leadership, it shows the depth and the level at which the leader is appreciated. On behalf of my distinguished colleagues in NASA: the Right Hon. Raila Amollo Odinga, His Excellency Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, who is out of the country, Hon. Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi and the entire NASA fraternity, I call upon all men and women of good will in the whole country to put the family of the late Hon. Nyenze in their prayers. Hon. Nyenze has left a family that will require prayers and support for them to carry on with the journey of life that the head of their family has left. We in NASA have lost a pillar, so to speak, of our politics in Lower Eastern. He was a pillar of our politics in our partner party, the Wiper Democratic Movement- Kenya (WDM-K) and a pillar of our politics at the national level. Hon. Nyenze, for the information of the House, has battled a cancer attack for the last couple of years. He has been in and out of hospital even as we saw him discharging his responsibilities as the National Assembly Minority Leader in the last Parliament. He was in and out of hospital battling the dreaded cancer that has finally led to his departure. May the good Lord rest his soul in eternal peace. May we, as a House, jointly and severally, pray for his family at this difficult moment because this can happen to anyone of us. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}