I WRITE this appreciation in honour of a great and beloved brother. It is a year since an assassin's bullet cut short the life of this great patriot. I still cannot understand why the perpetrators of this crime chose Pio as the victim. It was a murder without purpose. If the intention was to silence all opposition then many of us are prepared to die if in doing so we maintain liberty and democracy. These were the guiding principles of Pio's life. He was the friend of the down-trodden, the poor and above all faithful to his friends who suffered imprisonment for the cause of freedom. All over. the country men still remember his generosity. He gave all he had to help the poor and no one who appealed for help was turned away from his door. He gave but asked for nothing in return. He died a pauper.

Pio was accused by his enemies of being a communist. Even if he were, surely in a democratic Kenya it is not a crime warranting death to follow any political persuasion. To me Pio was a SOCIALIST. He lived by his Socialist beliefs in thought and deed. What he possessed belonged to those in need even to the extent that he deprived himself and his family of many of the simple comforts which we all enjoy. For instance, when he and I were working for the Pan-Africa Press our salaries were £50 each. I discovered that he was deceiving his wife by telling her that his salary was £25 per month. The other half of his salary was given to friends who suffered detention with him. Politically his views were beyond many of us in his depth of political understanding and social consciousness. To him Socialism meant its true application.

Pio always felt a guilty complex with regard to poverty and he sought through his Socialist principles to be of

practical assistance and in his own way to help eliminate poverty and human suffering. He was quick to react to injustice. If such were the qualities of this patriot and was branded as a communist for his actions, then I must say to his accusers that their perception of Political dogmas is indeed distorted.

I worked with Pio since 1952 and as a matter of fact it was through his inspiration that I entered politics. I had returned from Somalia after an absence from Kenya for almost eleven years. We met for the first time at a public meeting. I had asked the speaker a question and was persistent in getting a satisfactory reply but failed to do so. After the meeting Pio introduced himself and was interested to know who I was as he had never seen me before. This meeting developed into a sincere friendship and through him I was introduced to the Kenya Study Group, a small body of politicians and others who met regularly to study some of the pressing Problems of the day. We maintained a close friendship since then. During my six months' stay in India in 1953 and that was during the height of the Emergency, Pio kept me posted each week with press cuttings and long commentaries of the political situation during that critical time. I was able to use the information supplied very effectively in my anti-Government campaign in India and later in Cairo and London. A short while later he was arrested and suffered six long years of detention.

Pio was a keen and popular Parliamentarian both in the House of Representatives and in the Central Legislative Assembly. His death was such a shock to Members of the House of Representatives that they asked for an adjournment of the day's session. This aspect of his work was taken seriously and he did his home work meticulously for every session, working into the early hours of the morning preparing for it. He never refused to help a friend with correspondence. He was a prolific writer. I have known him to keep appointments at 5 a.m. after working till 1 or 2 a.m. Pio never relaxed. He was always on the move. I remember a "holiday" with him in Mombasa. He spent most of his time meeting friends and talking shop - i.e., politics. Politics was his life and he devoted everything, his mind, his body and his soul to Kenya. There are indeed very few who can match his patriotism.

Pio had a deep and lasting affection for his friends and this extended to a fraternal care for their health and well-being. He would never fail to visit a sick friend and would even go to the extent of looking after their family while a friend was in hospital or away from home. Such was the character, of the man. Decent, straightforward, fearless and honest. In all, a loyal citizen of Kenya.

0scar Kambona, Tanzania's Foreign Minister pays his last respects at the fumeral

Why was Pio murdered? Murder is but an evasion. Pio's name will not be forgotten because he was an honest and sincere man. Honest and sincere to his friends - these included all who were in trouble, who were poor or appealed for help. His enemies and those who engineered his death must surely feel that nothing has been gained by eliminating him from the political scene. The host of friends, European, Asian and African who attended his funeral is a testimony that Pio had many friends who loved him. We will go on loving him even though he is dead. His life's work and the example of clean, honest living, political intensity and patriotism will be an inspiration to us to follow his example and honour his name. Kenya has lost a great patriot and our sympathies go out to Emma and her children who have lost more than we have. God bless them and Pio.