Former outspoken Kitutu Masaba MP the late George Anyona Moseti did not live a good life befitting his status as a lawmaker despite serving in the august House for over 15 years, family members have revealed.
Anyona was one of the outstanding MPs during his time and was held in detention for more than eight years for being a fierce critic of former presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi governments, a move that twice cost him his parliamentary seat.
Speaking on Monday in Gatuta village ahead of the Saba Saba Day celebrations, Mr Jones Moseti, the only surviving sibling of Mr Anyona said the MP lived in his elder brother’s house at their rural home and a municipal room House No. 325 in Makadara in Nairobi despite being a lawmaker,
“My brother was poor because he spend most of his time fighting social–economic injustices committed by previous governments against the low-income earners. He was empathetic and spend the little cash he had on his people,” he said.
“In fact, the new house you’re seeing was only built after his death. He used to live in my elder brother Mageto Moseti’s house. In Nairobi, he never owned a house and instead opted to rent the municipal council house in Makadara,” he added.
Mr Moseti also said the multiparty democracy fighter drove an old Volkswagen before acquiring another old Peugeot 404 contrary to what people of his calibre used to drive.
“He only had an old Volkswagen and later on a Peugeot. He was a simple man and believed in helping the underprivileged across the country and forgot completely about his kin,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Anyona’s wife, Esther Moseti who termed his husband a ‘populist’ and man of the people who believed in helping the needy and forgetting about his family.
“Mzee was such a populist who was loved by many people. He preferred sharing the little he had with other people. That is why he died poor and left us languishing in poverty. But we are not living in vain because he left a legacy,” she said.