The Indian Parliament on Monday, July 18, paid a special tribute to Kenya's third President Mwai Kibaki at the start of a special sitting known as Monsoon Session.
Speaking in Parliament, known as Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla read out tributes of other leaders in a session that lasted for nearly 10 minutes.
In the end, all the members of the house, which comprises of representatives of the people chosen by direct election on the basis of the adult suffrage, rose to observe a moment of silence.
The former Kenyan President passed away on the night of Thursday, April 21 at the age of 90.
During his reign, which lasted between 2002 and 2013, the former Head of State championed for an improved relationship between Kenya and India.
In 2011, he urged African countries to foster a longlasting relationship with the Asian nation that would foster the sharing of technologies that would contribute to sustainable development and poverty alleviation.
During that year's Africa-India Forum Summit, Kibaki insisted that the continent would benefit from collaboration in the area of agricultural development to address food shortage.
Birla also paid tribute to other leaders among them Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the late President of the United Arab Emirates and the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and other fallen leaders from India.
In total, the Indian House paid tribute to 11 individuals who passed away since the beginning of the year.
They included Rabindar Kumar Rana (Member, Fourteenth Lok Sabha) T. Basheer (Member, Eighth and Ninth Lok Sabhas) Nawal Kishore Rai (Member, Tenth, Eleventh and Thirteenth Lok Sabhas) and Sukh Ram (Member, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh Lok Sabhas).
During the session attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the speaker noted that the Asian country had lost a true friend following the death of Shinzo Abe.
Abe was shot dead in Japan while delivering a speech ahead of the country's election. He was aged 67 years.
