{"id":769237,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/769237/?format=json","text_counter":56,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. (Ms.) Mbarire","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":78,"legal_name":"Cecily Mutitu Mbarire","slug":"cecily-mbarire"},"content":"Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I also rise to add my voice to those that have spoken before me by sending my condolences to the family of Hon. Francis Nyenze, a great leader who served in Parliament very well. Hon. Nyenze was a personal friend and a friendly person who provided very mature leadership as Leader of the Minority Party. All of us will agree that he was one very humble man. He never carried himself like the Minority Leader he was supposed to be. He gave chance to those in the Opposition at that time to participate in debate and air their views. He was very accommodating. More importantly, although he was the Minority Leader, Hon. Nyenze never opposed the agenda on the Floor of the House for the sake of it. I hope this is somethingthat the current leadership of the Opposition – Hon. Mbadi and Hon. Junet – will learn; that you can be in the Opposition but still support progressive agenda of Government. As a result of him supporting progressive agenda of Government, many people started to accuse him of being a mole. It is important we say that now. What I admired about Hon. Nyenze is that, that did not stop him from doing what he thought was right. He also opposed vehemently what he did not believe in. That is what leadership is all about. I have lost a dear friend. I used to consult him a lot on national matters. Many times we talk about politics but I want us to remember that Hon. Francis Nyenze did something that made him get the wrath of his colleagues in the party and in the coalition. Hon. Nyenze was convinced that the route that his party leader was taking was the wrong route. He even went on media and said he thought they were taking the wrong way; that there was need to sit and rethink the direction they were taking. He advised his party leader. That was very brave because not many of us have the courage to tell our party leaders what they do not want to hear. He told Hon. Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka that he did not think the route that he was taking was the right route. Today, it is clear that what he foresaw has come to pass. That the direction they took was wrong. I hope that going forward, we will have another Nyenze from within the Wiper Party. Hon. Maanzo, take up that leadership where you can speak out even when you know that is not the best thing to say. I will truly miss Hon. Nyenze. I will miss his maturity, his clarity of thought and his courage. For those of us who worked with him, we can only pray that his soul rests in peace but importantly that we can support him as colleagues, support his final send off, and support his family as has been proposed here by the Member for Kitui. For the new Members, we have a system of assisting our colleagues when they are bereaved. We have something called the check- off system. You may not know about it."}