Raila proclaims Elijah Masinde a national hero

MONDAY, 29 AUGUST 2011 00:05 BY SIMBI KUSIMBA

HONOURED: Prime Minister Raila Odinga with the eldest widow of the late Elijah Masinde and the Minister for National Heritage William Ole Ntimama. Photo/Geoffrey Mwanyanya/PMPS

Dini Ya Musambwa founder, the late Elijah MasindeWa Nameme was yesterday proclaimed a national hero for his major role in the struggle for independence against the British colonialists at a ceremony at his Maeni home near Kimilili Town inBungoma county. Presiding over the ceremony, Prime Minister Raila Odinga said Masinde stood up against colonial repression during very difficult times.

Raila said recognition of the country's heroes for their sterling roles was the only way future generations would be informed of where "we are coming from and echoed sentiments by a former American president that "a nation which forgets its defenders runs the risk of itself being forgotten".

Mentioning some fete by Masinde, the PM saidMasinde fought against the Kipande rule for Africans, taxation by the white regime and fought hard for people's rights even after independence and was jailed by Kenyatta for his troubles. "We must remember not only him but all our heroes who were detained and their families subjected to untold suffering," he said.

Raila explained: Dini Ya Musambwa which Masinde founded was even banned. That is history that cannot be erased,  I therefore order that a mausoleum be erected in his honour and the house he lived in preserved as Elijah Masinde House by the ministry of national heritage and we shall help his family. I have therefore not come here to play politics nor can I be stopped from coming to this home- I have come here since the colonial era because Masinde was a close confidant of my late father, Jaramogi  Oginga Odinga. "Who can stop a son from coming home?" he posed.

Raila added that Masinde was not only a freedom fighter, but was also a fantastic football player in Kenya's Gossage cup team in 1930. National Heritage minister William Ole Ntimama said and Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba concurred that "it takes a hero to find other heroes" and lauded the PM for undertaking to recognize the roles played by Masinde and the late Masinde Muliro in Kenya's history as the country celebrated the first anniversary after promulgation of the new constitution. Masinde who is survived by four widows-SarahNanyama, Getrude Naliaka, Elizabeth Nakhumicha and Gladys and 27 children was born in 1908 and passed away in June 1987. He began the independence struggle in 1948 and was detained for 14 years by the colonial regime.