The love story of Speaker Morris and his wife Conceptah

 Buluma and his wife during his graduation at UoN in 1994

In 1991 when Kakamega County Speaker Morris Buluma was taking his Law course at the University of Nairobi, he bumped into Conceptah Obiero Buluma.

Conceptah was taking a Sociology course at the Kenyatta University then. Normally in the University, students from the certain region form some student's associations.

Morris was coming from the Kakamega University Students Association while Conceptah was in Busia University Student Association where she hails from.

Students from the two associations under the umbrella of Luhya Student Association were having a meeting at the University of Nairobi.

In the course of the meeting, Morris was guessing at Concepta critically. Afterwards Morris wore a brave face and approached Conceptah and the two later fell in love.

He recalls how hard it was at the time since they had not yet found jobs. They could not afford going for date at luxurious places. They often went to City Park near Parklands where they spent much of their time whenever they were not having classes.

"We had no money that could enable us go to expensive places so we used to meet at City Park. There we could talk how we would like our future life to be," said Morris Buluma.

The two finished their studies same year in 1994. Conceptah got a job in Thika with a Non-Governmental Organization while Morris left for Eldoret working as an advocate at Omolo Buluma and Company Advocate.

At this time, the pair could not frequently meet each other like before because of the distance. Conceptah later got another job in Eldoret near Morris but she did not stay there for long as she left for Nairobi when she got a new job.

Morris remained in Eldoret. Despite the two staying far away from each other, they kept communicating and visiting each other particularly over the weekend.

Mode of Communication was a big challenge but Morris says he was lucky the office where he was working in had a telephone booth. Besides that writing letters was also ideal way of communication between the two.

Morris realized that they were headed for marriage after Conceptah used to make frequent visits to Eldoret to check on her fiancé in 1995. In 1995, Morris says time was ripe for his to visit Conceptah's home in Butula, Busia County for official introduction.

"A day could not pass without communicating and over the weekend either she or I could travel Eldoret or Nairobi and this was clear evidence that we were headed for marriage," he said.

He sat together with his parents first to get some guidance before he looked for his friends to accompany him to the home of his girlfriend

Upon arrival to the home of Conceptah while accompanied by his friends, he discovered that his wife to be had also lined up several of her friends.

Morris remembers vividly how he found it hard to dance before the huge crowd that had turned up that day but that moment marked as the best in his life.

The whole process went on to his expectation. Coincidentally, the elder brother to the Morris and elder brother to Conceptah had been in the same University of Nairobi and at one point had worked in the same Company so this worked to the advantage of Morris.

 Buluma, his wife Conceptah and their children Keith and Whitney

The parents of the girl were receptive and gave Morris blessings to take their daughter as his wife. "I was very shy and the fellows I went with were telling me I must dance and there were many people at the home. I had to dance and it was such a good moment," said the Speaker.

The two first did a traditional wedding in 1996. In 2002, Morris opened his own law firm called Buluma and Company Advocate in Eldoret.

In 2012, the two tied the knot at the Catholic Sacred Heart cathedral in Eldoret where he was still working as an advocate. He recalls that at the time he married his wife, they did not find life hard since he was working and earning paltry Sh15, 000.

They are blessed with two kids 19 years old Keith Buluma who is at the University of Nairobi doing Industrial Chemistry and Witney Buluma, 15 years old who is in year 10 at Green Steads Academy in Nakuru where International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) system is practiced.

The 47 years old Speaker of the Kakamega County Assembly was born in family of nine and he is the second last born child. Morris says life has changed from being a legal practitioner to politics.

"A few things have changed because unlike before, now days I am in politics most of my time, holding meetings and presiding over sessions in the assembly," said Buluma.