BBC US correspondent Larry Madowo has expressed his awe and admiration after learning about the death of Bill Gates' father, hours before his interview with the businessman.
Taking to Twitter, Madowo was amazed that despite losing his father, Gates did not cancel the scheduled interview on September 14.
"The father of Bill Gates died on Monday, the same day we recorded our BBC interview. He didn’t cancel even with such great loss," the BBC US correspondent tweeted.
Kenyans have taken pride in Madowo's career growth, having been a journalist in Kenya, going on to conquer the rest of the world.
Mourning his father's death, the businessman stated that his 94-year-old late father had played an important role in his professional, and personal life.
"As I got older, I came to appreciate my dad’s quiet influence on almost everything I have done in life. In Microsoft’s early years, I turned to him at key moments to seek his legal counsel," Gates recalled.
His interview with Madowo largely focused on the Covid-19 pandemic in the US but also touched on his opinion on Africa's response to the pandemic.
"I'm from Kenya, I live in the US now. There is a lot of focus on what the western countries are doing but have you looked at other countries that have handled this pandemic and are there lessons for the rest of the world?" the journalist posed.
Gates praised countries that partnered with commercial labs which he explained had more capacity to conduct testing.
He added that the US made a mistake by not effectively testing citizens who were flying back home which increased community spread.
He also explained that the continent's youthful population helped reduce the number of Covid-19 deaths.
As of September 15, Africa had recorded 1,360,245 Covid-19 cases and 1,106,985 recoveries, meaning that active cases stood at 220,454.
32,806 had succumbed to the virus with South Africa leading with 15,499 deaths.
Bill Gates is disappointed and worried about all the coronavirus vaccine conspiracy theories about him. I know because I asked him.
— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) September 16, 2020
Our full conversation: https://t.co/BHyZoxkTrD pic.twitter.com/yh4TYDkrPO
