Former Matungu Member of Parliament Joseph Wamukoya has died at the age of 78.
Speaking to a local media, Wamukoya’s family said the former lawmaker breathed his last on Monday morning after a long illness.
He had occasionally been receiving treatment at a Bungoma hospital.
“The MP has been sick for years and today he rested peacefully at our home,” the deceased’s widow Elizabeth Wamukoya told The Standard.
Wamukoya served as the first MP for Matungu Constituency between 1997 and 2002.
Elected on a Kenya African National Union (KANU) party ticket, Wamukoya was appointed into late President Daniel Arap Moi’s cabinet as assistant minister in the Ministry of Lands and Settlement in June 2001.
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Before joining politics, the deceased was a lecturer at the University of Nairobi teaching veterinary services. He also taught at the Michigan State University in the USA.
He returned to Kenya after landing a role as a director of Veterinary Services.
Wamukoya’s close relationship with President Moi is attributed to the division of the larger Mumia Constituency into two before the 1997 General Election.
A proposal drafted by Wamukoya led to the birth of Matungu Constituency.
He vied for the MP seat in the 1997 election and won.
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He, however, lost the seat in 2002 to David Were of NARC.
Wamukoya unsuccessfully contested for the seat in the 2007 election but lost to Were again.
His death comes months after the death of the Constituency’s third lawmaker Justus Murunga.
Murunga passed on in November last year. He is said to have been battling diabetes.
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