Deputy sport minister Dino Ballotti on Friday shared a close encounter he had with member of parliament James Uerikua on Thursday.
Uerikua died in a road accident on Friday.
“My brother, little did we know this was how you’d say goodbye just yesterday.
“Your sharing of sweets in the August house, where we would agree to support each other and rebut the opposition . . .
“Your WatsApps saying ‘drop the atomic bomb on the other side’; your fist bumps after taking the floor; you telling me to travel safely . . .
“Can’t believe this was our last encounter just yesterday. Rest easy, my brother,” Ballotti said.
Meanwhile, Popular Democratic Movement parliamentarian Inna Hengari also paid tribute to Uerikua.
“Kiringi, I’m not sad. I’m broken mundu wooTate. I’ve never heard my dad sound like that,” she said.
Hengari said she will always celebrate Uerikua’s life and the being he was.
She described him as a unifier and an all-rounder.
“Kaende nawa [go well]. Thank you for being a true son of the soil.
“Loyal to our motherland before all else,” Hengari said.
Tributes from across the political spectrum poured in on Friday.
“Go well, honourable chairperson of IRDS committee, I valued your leadership and engagement.
“You have left a void that will be felt by us all in the committee, parliament and the country.
“Till we meet again, my brother,” Nelson Kalangula from the Independent Patriots for Change said on social media.
Eneas Emvula from the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) said he would miss Uerikua’s charismatic character in the National Assembly.
“It’s a pain that cuts very deep. It is a tragedy that his son also passed on, and we pray that God will be with his wife, who is reported to be in critical condition,” he said.
LPM member of parliament David Eigub on social media posted: “Lord, have mercy.”
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