Monday, June 18, 2012

Widow mourns Ojode the ‘great guy’


Orwa Ojode's widow Mary eulogised her late husband as a peacemaker. Ojode was buried on Sunday in Unga, Ndhiwa Constituency.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 17 – The late Internal Security Assistant Minister Orwa Ojode has been eulogised by his wife Mary as a wonderful man who was a peacemaker.
Mary Ojode told mourners on Sunday that her husband taught them how to appreciate people.
“Joshua was just a great guy and we thank God for his life. By the way Joshua’s life was very fast and may be that is why he had to die so fast, may be that’s why even his burial had to move so fast. He wasn’t a slow paced person so I pray, let’s not politicise anything, let us send him home in peace,” she said during the burial ceremony.
Mary recounted that she had insisted on traveling with the late Assistant Minister on the fateful Sunday but he refused, an incident she sees as God’s miracle.
“It was tough but I think I have learnt a lot out of this. After the crash, on Monday, Mr Kimemia (acting Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia) and the President came to our home and requested that we hold the funeral today and I was saying, we are just beginning to mourn, but then I realised that it was actually God-sent because I don’t think I would have been able to handle it for two weeks,” she said.
Mary who mourned the death of her husband at their Unga Village in Ndhiwa constituency where he was laid to rest said: “I don’t think God wanted it any other way, He was in a position to have stopped it but He chose that his life should end at such a time as this… sometimes we think that we have tomorrow but I want us to know that the only day we have is today so let’s appreciate life and think over it and realise that we may make our plans but God has the last say.”
She at the same time urged journalists to be sensitive when reporting news of death.
She said the media had already reported of the deaths before the family received any official government communication which did not give her time to tell her son Andrew who studies in the United Kingdom.
She narrated that when she was informed by a friend that her husband could have been involved in a plane crash she immediately called her son’s friend in the United Kingdom to go and be with him but it was too late.
“Andy is always watching news; the sad thing is that by the time they got there, he was staring at it on the screen. I hadn’t been informed officially and he didn’t know, he just saw on the screen that his father had died in a plane crash. It was very unfortunate,” she said.
“I know that we have our journalists here and I wish they would be more sensitive so that we are able to take care of our children. But I thank God that Andy knows God and he handled it well,” she added.
Ojode’s widow also called on the Ndhiwa constituents for which the late Ojode was the Member of Parliament to elect another leader wisely.
“I request members of Ndhiwa constituency, we all have lost and I ask that when the time comes for you to choose a leader think of where Joshua has taken you from and choose somebody that can continue with the beautiful good work that he has done not only for Ndhiwa but for the nation as a whole,” she said.
Ojode died last week on Sunday in a helicopter crash alongside Internal Security Minister George Saitoti, two bodyguards and two pilots.

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