A brief pause, a quick scan of the room and the right hand softly placed over the left will forever remain an enduring image of National Assembly Clerk Samuel Njoroge as he prepared to eulogise the late Emurua Dikirr MP Johana Ng’eno .
However, nothing captured the raw and intense emotion of the moment of his tribute like the words that followed during the requiem service at Africa Gospel Church in Karen, Nairobi, on March 4, 2026.
A scene where a chopper crashed at Chepkiep Village in Mosop Sub-County of Nandi County on February 28, 2026, where six occupants died on the spot. MP Johana N'geno (inset) was one of the chopper passengers.
Photo credit: File, Jared Nyataya | Nation
“On Monday, when I was reviewing the division list of the House, it became apparent to me that life is so fickle and I have to delete the name of member number 52 from the list and that Emurua Dikirr today in my division list stays vacant,” said Mr Njoroge.
“We have faith that God is going to give us another great leader from amongst the people of Emurua Dikirr so that the vacancy does not last for long,” he added as he ended the brief speech.
The tears that freely flowed from Housing and Urban Development Principal Secretary Charles Hinga only made the heavy cloud of emotions hanging in the church even heavier.
“The family chain has been broken, and nothing will be the same again, but as God calls us one by one, that chain will blink again. Chairman, may your memories not just be buried on Friday. Let them be engraved in our hearts for nothing loved is ever lost.”
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah added: “This nation, Parliament and the committee is poorer with Johana Ng’eno . We needed a man like Ng’eno to shepherd us through the housing levy debacle of the financial year of 2023/24 where he was an active participant in the court cases.”
The moving homage by the three leaders laid bare the loss Parliament and members of the respective electoral units have had to bear over the years following the deaths of elected lawmakers.
From plane crashes, assassinations, cancer to Covid-19; Parliament has endured devastating losses in the course of its life.
The work of an MP revolves around representation, oversight and legislation and in the case of Mr Ng’eno, he was the chairperson of the departmental committee on Housing, Urban Planning and Public Works in the National Assembly.
But even before the tears of the loss of MP Ng’eno had dried, Parliament suffered another loss in the name of Ol Kalou MP David Njuguna Kiaraho after a short illness.
Ol Kalou MP David Kiaraho
Photo credit: File | Nation
Until his death, Mr Kiaraho, who was serving his third term, was also a member of the departmental Committee on Transport and Infrastructure, and the Procedure and House Rules Committee. The 13th Parliament has lost eight members, with the National Assembly losing seven members and the Senate one.
Former Banissa MP Ahmed Maalim Hassan.
Photo credit: Nation Media Group
Kasipul MP Ong’ondo Were would follow two months later in April after being shot at close range on his way home from Parliament.
Charles Ong'ondo Were, MP for Kasipul, was killed at a red light. His killers escaped on a motorcycle.
Photo credit: File | Nation
A brief lull was broken by the sad news of the passing on of Isiolo South MP Tubi Bidu Mohamed in November 2025, after a long illness, followed by Denar Joseph Hamisi in December through a road accident.
The 12th Parliament witnessed 14 deaths during its life, comprising four senators and 10 members of the National Assembly.
Kitui West MP Francis Nyenze, Grace Kipchoim (Baringo South), Ken Okoth (Kibra), Suleiman Dori (Msambweni), Justus Murunga (Matungu), James Lusweti (Kabuchai), John Oroo Oyioka (Bonchari), Francis Waititu (Juja), Paul Koinange (Kiambaa), and Kamoti Mwamkale (Rabai).
On the other hand, departed senators included Yusuf Haji (Garissa), Boniface Mutinda Kabaka (Machakos), Ben Oluoch Okello (Migori) and Victor Prengei (nominated).
The 11th Parliament also suffered six losses, including four senators and two members of the National Assembly.
The senators were Mutula Kilonzo (Makueni), Gerald Otieno Kajwang’ (Homa Bay), Boy Juma Boy (Kwale) and Godfrey Gitahi (GG) Kariuki (Laikipia). The members of the National Assembly included Joseph Ngugi Nyumu (Gatundu South) and George Muchai (Kabete), who was shot dead.
Ordinarily, upon receipt of information regarding the death of a Member while in office, the Speaker conveys this information to all by way of Communication from the Chair. If the House is in recess, notification is made to members by way of a letter signed by the Speaker.
The speaker, out of his own discretion, may dedicate one hour or more, depending on interest from members for tributes. This will follow an adjournment motion to pave the way for lawmakers to condole with the family.
After the tributes, which are captured in the Hansard, the material is collated and presented to the family through the Clerk.
According to the House procedures and tradition, the handing over of the Hansard copy containing the tributes of the late MP to the family is a symbolic end of an era for the deceased member.
Upon conclusion of tributes in the House, an Ad Hoc committee comprising members drawn from both Houses is constituted.
The Office of the Clerk will then remove the name of the MP from the division lists as it is obvious he or she will not be expected to vote on any matter in the House.
“Upon the passage of an MP, everything ends. The name is removed immediately from the Division list because once you have passed on, you are no longer a Member of Parliament. You don’t even wait for gazettement because you cannot pinpoint him or her,” former Clerk Michael Sialai told Nation .
In terms of replacement of the vacancy in Committees, the Party that the Member belonged to makes a proposal to the House Business Committee (HBC) under Standing Order 197 (3), in case of the Senate, which states that a vacancy in a committee – whether through death, discharge of the Senator from a committee or resignation – shall be filled within 14 days.
However, there is no provision in the Standing Orders for a Senator to stand in for another in a committee in the event of a vacancy as stated above.
Nonetheless, in the event of a vacancy in the leadership of a committee, the Clerk is required to convene a meeting of the committee within seven days of the vacancy arising, for the committee to elect a new chairperson.
When Senator Cheptumo passed away on February 15, 2025; the Senate, four days later, moved to reconstitute its committees in line with the death.
He was the chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations and a member of the Lands, Environment and Natural Resources committee.
Trans Nzoia Senator Allan Chesang replaced the late Cheptumo, and the latter’s place in the National Security committee was taken up. Currently, the chair of the National Security committee is Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo.
“We did this work only last week, but since then, there have been two events that have led to this quick reorganisation. One is an obvious one, given we lost one of our colleagues on the majority side,” said Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot as he moved a motion on the resolution of the Senate HBC.
On statements, Motions and questions, there is no provision for another Member standing-in for the deceased. For a Bill, he said, another Member can take it up, but in their own names, not in that of the deceased.
Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye points out that the passing of an elected senator means there will be one member less in instances where there is need for voting and crucially in cases where voting is only through delegation, as in impeachment instances, and there is no other member from that delegation.
However, in terms of House business, proceedings will continue and decisions made in accordance with Article 123 and 124(3) of the Constitution.
Article 123 of the Constitution dictates how the Senate makes decisions, particularly focusing on how county delegations vote. It stipulates that each of the 47 counties has one vote, cast by the head of that county's delegation after consultation, with most matters requiring a majority of delegations to pass.
On the other hand, Article 124 (3) states that proceedings of either House are not invalid just because of a vacancy in its membership.
On matters of handling the office that was occupied by the departed member, he said there is no rule on office clearance, but the process is guided by sensitivity and through consultation between the Office of the Clerk and the family.
“Some families may want to clear the office as soon as possible, while others take some time. But this is done in consultation at all times. Our approach has been to let the family grieve, the burial arrangements to be made, and this to be agreed on later,” observes Mr Nyegenye, who is also the Secretary to the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC).
For their staff, their employment contracts end. Release or separation of staff of a Senator who passes on is done in accordance with PSC policy on engagement of staff, says Mr Nyegenye.
He explains that if the staff is engaged by the Commission, gratuity is computed, paid, and the matter is settled, but if the staff is directly engaged by the Senator, the matter is settled through the Constituency/County Liaison Office.
“In either case, the terms of engagement are communicated to the staffer through official correspondence at the time of engagement.”
In terms of financial settlement, all MPs are covered by group life insurance, and when a member dies in office, the nominated beneficiaries of the member are paid the applicable insurance benefits in accordance with group life insurance policy.
However, where a member had any existing liabilities, such as a mortgage, the mortgage insurance also settles in full the balance accruing at the time of the death of the MP.
Article 103 of the Constitution provides for the circumstances under which the office of an MP may fall vacant, including through death.
According to Article 101 of the Constitution, whenever such a vacancy occurs in the office of an elected MP, the respective speaker is required, within 21 days of the occurrence of the vacancy, to give notice in writing to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
A by-election is then held within 90 days of the occurrence of the vacancy, except for when such a mini poll is within three months before a General Election in accordance with Article 101(5).
This means that if an MP dies within that period, the seat will remain vacant until the General Election is held. A case in point is when Rabai MP Kamoti passed away on May 29, 2022 while the General Election was scheduled for August 9, 2022.
There were similar instances in Kwale when Senator Boy and his Laikipia counterpart, Mr Kariuki, passed on in 2017. The latter’s death occurred just weeks before the August 8, 2017, General Election.
In the case of a nominated MP, the Speaker is required to give a notice to the IEBC and the political party whose party list the member was nominated, within 21 days of the occurrence of the vacancy.
The vacancy will then be filled within three weeks of the notification, where the electoral agency reallocates the seat to another member from the party list submitted before the general election.
The by-elections have seen the country spend billions of shillings in replacing the deceased MPs, with the cost of organising such mini-polls varying with the elective seat.
Apart from the cost, electorates also wait for months to have new leaders with the Banissa by-election coming more than two years after the passing on of the area MP – between March 29, 2023 and November 27, 2025.
