National

Lawmakers paid tribute to Nyarugenge District representative in Parliament, Tharcisse Shamakokera, who succumbed to prolonged illness on Tuesday night at King Faisal Hospital.

On Wednesday morning, Parliament business was affected as Committee sessions in the House partially came to a halt after MPs were informed of the highly regarded lawmaker’s death.

Heartbroken MPs, including Yvonne Uwayisenga, who previously worked with the deceased at the Prime Minister’s office and later in Parliament, described him as an honest man of integrity, who will be “missed very much” by friends, family and the whole nation.

 “He was a good man, a man of honor as well as a renowned noble and decent hard worker. May God rest his soul in peace,” Uwayisenga said.

MP Francis Kaboneka said: “He was a very hard working man who had the country at his heart. To some of us, he has been an advisor. We are going to miss him very much”.

The lawmakers’ grief is heightened by the fact that just over eight months ago, hundreds of mourners thronged the Parliament buildings grounds to pay their last respects to another of their own – Hon. Aimable Nibishaka, who died last July.

MP Henriette Sebera Mukamurangwa said: “It is so sad especially now that, in this mandate, again we have lost another colleague. It is a tragedy.

The late honorable Shemakokera was a very humble man, very kind and social. Let him rest in peace, is all I can say.”

MP Joseph Desire Nyandwi said their late colleague had been in hospital for some time but his death came as a shock.

“He was not only just a colleague. He was hard working and selfless. And I only wish the Almighty takes his soul. Even though we can’t do anything to make him come back, we sympathize with his family. Us too, as a family where he worked, we feel for and console his family, during these trying moments,” Nyandwi said.

The late Shamakokera was a Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi) party representative in the House.

He is survived with a wife and four children, as well as some grand children. His mother too is still alive.

The 68-year old former secondary school teacher previously worked as an officer in charge of social affairs in the President’s Office, officer at the General Secretariat of RPF-Inkotanyi as well as Deputy Secretary General in the Office of the Prime Minister in charge of Cabinet Affairs.

He held a Bachelors Degree in Linguistics.

In the past, the late Shemakokera also taught in secondary schools in Uganda and Burundi. He was at one time a curricula development officer in both Rwanda and Burundi.

Contact email: james.karuhanga[at]newtimes.co.rw