Just before the late Garissa Senator Yusuf Haji breathed his last, he had contemplated resigning from his senatorial seat.
The late Haji died on Monday at the Aga Khan hospital aged 80. He had been receiving treatment for a while.
His two sons, Abdul Haji and the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji during a prayer meeting on Friday in Garissa recalled their last conversation with their father on his hospital bed.
They said that the late Haji wanted to call Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka to resign saying that it was not right for him to draw a salary for no work done as he had been ailing.
However, he became unconscious moments before the call would be made.
“He wanted us to call the Senate Speaker to resign because he said it was haraam to draw a salary while he was unable to work for the people of Garissa,” Abdul recalled according to the Standard.
Now, Haji’s family will donate an equivalent of his six month’s salary to vulnerable children in Garissa County.
The funds will be managed by former Red Cross Society secretary-general Dr Abas Gulet. The money will be distributed across all the six sub-counties in Garissa.
Noordin and Abdul added that their father had also wanted to recorded video of him asking for forgiveness from Kenyans.
However, this did not happen. His family will now traverse the six sub-counties of Garissa asking for forgiveness on behalf of their father.
Since 2018, he has been a crucial in Kenyan politics having chaired the Building Bridges Taskforce which is at the centre of Kenyan politics at the moment.
The deceased was serving his second term as the Garissa Senator. He was re-elected in 2017.
Prior to his serving as a Senator, he served as Ijara MP for two terms, between 2002 and 2007. He was then elected the county’s senator under the dispensation of the 2010 Constitution that initiated devolution.
Senator Haji had a long and chequered career in public administration. He started off in the 1960 as a District Officer.
Ten years later, he shot to the top in provincial administration to become a Provincial Commissioner in 1970.
He served in this position in 1997 before throwing his hat into politics in 1998 when he earned a set in Parliament as a nominated MP.
In 2002 elections, he was elected Ijara MP unopposed.
He has served as an Assistant Minister through his political career in including the Minister for Defence between 2007-2013.
