Mzee Midika’s broad chest saved me from angry mourners- Francis Ole Kaparo

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) chairman Francis ole Kaparo is forever grateful to Mzee Onyango Midika for saving his life during Mzee Jaramogo Oginga Odinga’s burial in Bondo.

Kaparo, then the National Assembly Speaker, had gone to Bondo to pay his last respects to one of his long-time friends and Member of Parliament when mourners started booing and threatening to attack him.

“I had went for the funeral and encountered hostility from the mourners. Midika came to my rescue and took me through the packed crowd to the dais. He was a built man with a broad chest and used his towering physique to intimidate the people who threatened to attack me,” said Kaparo.

Kaparo who recently visited Midika’s locality in Muhoroni to mediate between the Luo and the Nandi living along Kibigori border, recounted how Midika saved him in 1994.

Midika was then a former Member of Parliament and a Minister in the Kanu government, while Kaparo was the Speaker of the National Assembly.

Oginga was the opposition leader and the people of Nyanza were hostile to those perceived to be pro-government.

The mourners reportedly started booing and surging towards him, but Midika intervened in time and shielded him from the mob.

Kaparo was in Muhoroni together with two other commissioners to help restore ‘order’ at the border after two weeks of violence between the neighbouring communities which led to the death of six people, with several others being injured.

Midika however expressed confidence that Kaparo would pay back the favour to ensure that lasting peace returns to the area.

“It is true that I saved the former Speaker, and we have remained close friends since then, and we want the friendship to continue forever,” said Midika.

The former minister has since retired from active politics and settled in his Muhoroni home where he is concentrating on farming.