Four years have passed, yet some memories refuse to fade. They become part of who we are quiet voices that continue to teach, inspire, and shape our understanding of life.
I remember late ASP Stanley Nzati and late Chief Timawus Mathias, two fathers whose influences on my life were different, yet profoundly connected. One shaped me through discipline, courage, responsibility and service; the other awakened and nurtured the writer and media person in me, teaching me to appreciate the power of words, ideas, communication and public engagement.
Their absence reminds me that fatherhood is not defined only by biological ties. Sometimes, God places some men in our journey who become fathers through mentorship, sacrifice, correction, encouragement and example. Their lives become classrooms, and their memories become continuing lessons.
From the perspective of public theology, remembrance is not merely a private emotional exercise. It is an ethical act. The lives of those who have gone before us challenge the living to ask: What values will we carry forward? What kind of society will our lives help build? And what legacy will remain when our own voices fall silent?
Four years later, I realise that I carry a part of both men in me.
From late ASP Stanley Nzati, I carry lessons of character, discipline and service; from late Chief Timawus Mathias, I carry the courage of the pen, the power of communication and the responsibility that comes with a public voice.
I miss you both in ways words cannot fully express. Yet I am deeply grateful that our paths crossed and that your lives became part of my story. Every time I write, speak, serve, or seek to make a difference in the public space, I am reminded that I am standing on foundations others helped build.
Four years on, I do not remember you only because you are gone. I remember you because you helped make me who I am.
Your voices may have fallen silent, but something of you continues to speak through my life.
May God grant you eternal rest, and may He give me the grace to honour your memory not merely with words, but with the life I choose to live.
Cliff Stanley, Political Scientist, Public Theologian,
Cliffstanley3@gmail.com