Close family members of the late Juja Member of Parliament Francis Munyua Waititu say he had prepared them emotionally for his death.
Michael Munyua, second born son, says the late MP had put his affairs in order.
“I would ask him where he got all the energy when he was still ailing and he would say that when God says it’s your time, you will have to go. He had told us that when that time comes and we don’t see him, we should appreciate God’s will,” he is quoted by he Nation as saying.
The late MP, known to friends and family as ‘Wakapee’ had been battling brain cancer since 2018. “He kept reminding us of what God had done for him, and that he was left with very little to do for both the family and the county,” Munyua said.
Wakapee’s extended family has faced this cancer threat with fortitude. The MP’s mother loats his sister to liver cancer in 2016. His mother was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017.
The late MP had at one time revealed that 63 MPs and Senators are battling the disease. He was championing for the construction of a cancer centre in his Juja constituency, to save Kenyans from the steep cost of seeking treatment abroad.
But even with his diagnosis, Wakapee was hopeful of full recover. “He kept telling us, ‘I have cancer, but I believe it will go away,'” said Senate Majority leader Amos Kimunya. “He never lost hope. He knew he had a terminal illness but he believed he would heal.”
His children said that his message and courage, is what has allowed them celebrate his life instead of mourning. “We are letting him go in peace,” daughter Terry said.
The second-term legislator passed on at the MP Shah hospital, Nairobi, on Monday.