Melitus Were, the Kenyan opposition member of parliament who was shot and killed in Nairobi on the night of 28 January, was well known and loved in the Kenyan community in Rome. He came to Italy at the end of the 1990s and studied social communications at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He returned to Kenya after taking his diploma in 1998, and in 2002 was elected a city councillor for the Dandora district of Nairobi.

In December 2007 he was elected as a member of parliament for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of Raila Odinga. Were, a dynamic and charismatic personality, was particularly interested in projects for disadvantaged youth in Nairobi.

His killing comes at a time of growing violence and tension throughout Kenya in the wake of the contested general elections at the end of December (see nairobi/wantedinafrica.com for more information).

Were was married to an Italian from Lecce and had three children.