'Soft spoken but firm': Uhuru, Gusii leaders mourn Bonchari MP Oroo Oyioka
What you need to know:
- In his condolence message to the family, President Kenyatta described the MP as a determined leader who always pursued the improvement of his constituents’ lives through education.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has eulogised Bonchari Member of Parliament John Oroo Oyioka, who died on Monday, as an accomplished educator and determined legislator.
Oroo’s family said he succumbed to a stroke at the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu County.
In his condolence message to his family, President Kenyatta described the MP as a determined leader who always pursued the improvement of his constituents’ lives through education.
“It is a pity that death has robbed us of a determined and a progressive grassroots leader, who used his long experience as a teacher and administrator to develop his constituents through education,” he said.
“Oroo’s love for education was demonstrated in his setting up of a private teachers’ college to serve his community after his retirement from public service. That was a selfless leader who knew and appreciated the transformative value of empowering the youth through education.”
Oroo, who was born in 1950 in Suneka, is survived by his wife, Teresa Bitutu Oroo, and five children.
His eldest son, Julius Oyioka, said they were making arrangements to transfer his body to Nairobi.
Soft spoken but firm
Hundreds of residents and several Gusii leaders visited the lawmaker’s Suneka home in Kisii County early Tuesday morning to condole with his family.
They included Kisii Governor James Ongwae and Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, who said in his condolence message that “our thoughts are with his family and the decent, peaceful people of Bonchari.”
Mr Ongwae said he met Oroo long before they both ventured into politics in 2007.
“I knew Oroo when I headed the Teachers Service Commission. He was working with the Education ministry. We will remember him for the projects he initiated as an educationist,” he said.
“It is a sad day for Kisii and the entire nation, for the death of Oroo has utterly shaken all of us, coming in the wake of the demise of Mzee Simeon Nyachae and Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji, both of whom were laid to rest on Monday.”
Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni said the MP was he party has lost a dedicated and soft spoken man whose legacy will remain in our minds forever.”
