Members of the National Assembly have been directed to wear sombre clothes for a special sitting on Thursday, October 16, set aside to mourn Raila Odinga.
Speaker Moses Wetang'ula announced this moments before the House observed a minute of silence during its Wednesday afternoon session.
Wetang'ula said the National Assembly will sit from 10am to 12am on Thursday to give room for the lawmakers to eulogise the departed ODM leader, during which they will be expected to dress somberly.
"I also advise that tomorrow, for many if not all of you, it will be the only opportunity to eulogise the Prime Minister. It is advised from yours truly that you come in a sombre state, in sombre attire, meaning I advise that we dress in black," he stated.
"The good ladies should provide ribbons for everyone so that we demonstrate our respect and appreciation for our fallen heroic leader."
It is on the Thursday session that the leaders will be allowed to mourn the fallen leader, so that everyone can mourn him; the session will extend up to midnight.
Even though the MPs did not get an opportunity to eulogise Raila before the session was adjourned, the Majority Leader, Kimani Ichung'wah and the Minority Leader were allowed a few words as they will be travelling to India later in the day to facilitate the repatriation of his remains.
Ichungwah sent his condolences to Raila's widow, Mama Idah Oding, his children, Rosemary, Raila Junior and Winnie, hailing him as a pan-africanist who always referred to him as "my son" whenever they spoke.
"We will all remember our Prime Minister as a great pan-africanist, the foremost son of Africa and our great nation. We will remember him also in many ways as a father to our nation and a father to many of us," he stated.
"When the news was broken to us by the President, it was a very difficult moment because just a few weeks ago I spoke to the former Prime Minister when he called to condole with me when I lost my dad and he was upbeat, but he did indicate to me that he was a little under the weather and he wont be able to join us."
An emotional Junet Mohammed also made his remarks, requesting that he be granted the opportunity to relay his condolence message later, as he was still coming to terms with the death.
"I want to take this opportunity to condole with the family of my leader and the entire ODM fraternity and membership, and the entire country at large for the loss that we have encountered today, of a great man," he said.
"I am still coming to terms with what happened, so I will still request you to allow me to do my condolences tomorrow, God willing. Some of us had a very deep relationship with our leader. We knew death would come one day, but we didn't expect it so soon."
