The late Francis Nyenze. He was the leader of minority in the 12th parliament. [Photo/Standard]
Kitui West MP and KANU-era Cabinet Minister Francis Nyenze was on Wednesday pronounced dead at the Nairobi Hospital before his body was moved to the Lee Funeral Home.
He was the Member of Parliament for Kitui West Constituency and the Minority leader in the 12th Parliament.Signs of his failing health came to the fore when he was sworn into the 13th Parliament with an oxygen tank strapped to his body.Nyenze will be remembered for his insistence that Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka be installed as the coalition’s flagbearer cast a doubt of Wiper’s time in NASA.While Musyoka distanced himself from Nyenze’s statements terming them personally, Nyenze was on a relentless campaign.“If it is not Kalonzo, we will go it alone. In the absence of that, forget about NASA,”“Because the Kamba nation is waiting for their son to be crowned the flagbearer,”He pushed Musyoka to demand what was ‘rightfully’ his, even though many from the Kamba region did not support his stance.“At 63 years of age, why would I delay the decision to become the president,” said Musyoka during a past meeting after the calls for him to be installed as the NASA flagbearer grew louder.When finally NASA settled for Odinga as the flagbearer with Musyoka as his deputy, Nyenze was satisfied that his push had borne fruits.“If Nyenze never said no Kalonzo no NASA, we could not get number two,”He had clearly wedged war against his party leader, especially during the party nominations accusing Kalonzo of meddling in the party primaries, which effectively cost David Musila his gubernatorial bid on a Wiper ticket.All of us, whether in Wiper, Jubilee, or NARC we all stand for Musila because we feel he stands for the aspirations and the dreams of Kitui,”In the lead-up to the August general elections, Nyenze accompanied Public Service Cabinet Secretary Cecily Kariuki and Musila to a youth project launch Kitui.Despite being in the Wiper Party, Nyenze seemed to drum up support for president Kenyatta's re-election.“We don’t want baseless politics that nothing has been done, Uhuru Kenyatta has performed, haven’t you heard of the SGR and other projects?He served in Gideon Moi’s government, lost in 2002 and stayed in the cold for a decade, before making a comeback in 2013.He was the Leader of Minority in the 12th parliament.