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{
    "id": 843118,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/843118/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 93,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wako",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 366,
        "legal_name": "Amos Sitswila Wako",
        "slug": "amos-wako"
    },
    "content": "Thank you. Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise pursuant to Standing Order No.53 to issue a Statement on the passing on of the former United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Auditor-General Kofi Annan. Today in Accra, Ghana, His Excellency (H.E.) Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the UN and Nobel Peace Prize Winner and a top world diplomat is being laid to rest. I am glad that the Republic of Kenya is being represented by the Speaker of this House and my party leader, the former Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am aware that this House has already observed one minute of silence in memory and Sen. Wetangula, the former Minister for Foreign Affairs has given his tribute. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am glad that you have given me this opportunity to pay a personal tribute to a friend. I grieve a friend, who in many respects, qualifies to be one of the greatest sons of Africa and a renowned world leader. I feel particularly privileged to have known him at an official and a personal level. I have known H.E Kofi Annan since 1981 when I was appointed a Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). At that time, he was an officer at the secretariat of the UN at the level of director. We interacted a lot in those days and in particular, on the role of Africans in the UN and how the UN can play a bigger role in economic development matters which we felt should be more multilateral rather than bilateral, in view of the division of the world between east and west. These interactions included another eminent Ghanian called Kenneth Dadzie who at that time was the deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Organisation and James Yona, who at that time was under the Secretary General of UN. Both of them were senior to us. It was no accident that Kofi Annan is the only Secretary General of the UN who rose through the ranks from the lowest to the top level. Hon. Speaker, it was Kofi Annan who appointed me, when I was the Attorney- General of Kenya in September 1996 to be on the panel of eminent persons which investigated the insecurity in Algeria for the Security Council. The other members of the panel were His Excellency Mario Suarez, the former President of Portugal, Rt. Hon. Inder Kumar Gujral, the former Prime Minister of India, the former Prime Minister of Jordan, Grace Machel and Mrs. Veil, the first lady Minister for Foreign Affairs of France. Madam Temporary Speaker, I considered it very humbling that H.E. Kofi Annan could appoint me on such a panel when I was just a mere Attorney-General in Kenya. It was Kofi Annan who appointed me to chair the panel of experts, one from India and the other from the United States of America (USA) to investigate the Harbel massacre in Liberia and submit a report through him to the Security Council of the United Nations (UN) Organisation. 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."
}