Veteran Nakuru politician Willy Komen dies
Former Rongai MP Willy Komen who died on June 23, 2019 at the age of 77 at his home in Menengai. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
Mr Komen represented Nakuru Town up to 1979 when he lost to the late Mr Amos Kabiru Kimemia.
In 1974, Mr Komen lost the seat to the late Mr Evans Njau.
Veteran Nakuru politician Willy Komen is dead. Mr Komen , 77, who served as a Member of Parliament in three constituencies in the cosmopolitan county died on Saturday. He served as Rongai, Nakuru Town and Nakuru West MP.
According to his son, Raymond Komen who is the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Cooperative in Nakuru County, his father died on Saturday at his home in Menengai, in Rongai Constituency.
“My father passed on Saturday after a short illness,” said Mr Komen on Sunday.
NAKURU WEST
Mr Komen started his political career at the age of 24. He was elected Nakuru West legislator in 1969.
Nakuru West by then included Njoro, Molo, Kuresoi North and Kuresoi South. In 1974, he lost the seat to the late Mr Evans Njau.
The following year, he was elected to represent the people of Nakuru Town in a by-election after its MP the late Mark Mwithaga was jailed.
Mr Komen represented Nakuru Town up to 1979 when he lost to the late Mr Amos Kabiru Kimemia.
He bounced back to active politics in 1992 when he was elected again as Rongai MP until 1997 when he lost to Mr Eric Morogo.
SQUATTERS
Nakuru County Jubilee Party Secretary- General Peter Mtumishi Cheruiyot said: “Nakuru County has lost a courageous politician who served all irrespective of their political affiliation.”
The Jubilee official said Mr Komen will be remembered for his selflessness and efforts to unite the Kalenjin community.
“He fought for equal distribution of resources and most of the squatters in Nakuru County and other land owners at Kwa Rhonda, Sirikwa, Kaptembwo and Kirobon among other areas were settled when he was a clerk of Kalenjin Enterprises, a land buying company in the then Nakuru district,” said Mr Cheruiyot.
