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{
    "id": 982361,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/982361/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 67,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "I am saying this because things can change. At that time, nobody thought that President Moi could become the President of the Republic of Kenya. He sat in the opposition and was a very forceful Member. I was in school at that time to realize how effective he was together with people like Hon. Ronald Ngala, Hon. Masinde Muliro, Hon. Martin Shikuku and many others. Mr. Speaker, Sir, before he became Vice President, he was a Minister for Home Affairs amongst people who probably took him for granted and never thought he could rise any higher than where he was. However, God’s plans were quite different. The other issue about the late President Moi which I want to record here is that when he saw a better way of doing things, he was ready to change. I think that is why he was President for 24 years. I am saying this as someone who most of the time saw the negative side of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) Government at that time. I was being constantly arrested and prosecuted. However, whenever he was convinced that there was a better way of doing things, he would change. I urge all of us to follow this path because who could imagine when the rest of the opposition at that time led by Ronald Ngala and Masinde Muliro, when President Moi saw it fit to join with the KANU Government and become Vice President, he was like somebody who was entering a den of hyenas. He was like a guest in that house because there were very prominent people in KANU then. This gave him the realization to give everybody space and time. This, to some extent, made him a tolerant leader. I am saying so because who would have imagined President Moi sitting together with Jaramogi Odinga in 1991 and saying that they would enter into a deal of cooperation. Some of us were not very happy when that came. It is just like some people have not been very happy with the deal between Raila Amollo Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta. At that time, a lot of people were not happy, including me. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I remember an incident when Jaramogi Odinga went to see President Moi in Kisumu. There was a show in Kisumu. President Moi had insisted that I go to Kisumu with Jaramogi Oginga Odinga because I was slated as a difficult one; the advisor and a hardliner. I did not go at that time. In fact, when they came back from Kisumu, President Moi and Jaramogi rode in the same plane. I took issue with Jaramogi and told him he was the alternative government. I asked him: “How can you ride with President Moi in the same plane?” The old man told me: “You do not know what we are trying to do. It is bigger than even formation of government and political power. We want this country to come together so that it has space for everybody.” Finally I was convinced to go to Kabarak one day early at 5.00 a.m. I had tea and a lot of food there. This was at a time when we had an election petition which Jaramogi Oginga had filed against President Moi. We had a good conversation and we agreed that each person should just have his lawyer and see what comes out of it. I am saying this because some people probably thought that talking to President Moi and persuading him to go in any direction was difficult, but I had that experience when I saw that he would listen."
}