Former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae dies at 88

Former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae has died at 88 years.

His family issued a statement on Monday saying he died at the Nairobi Hospital after a long illness.

He was born on February 6, 1932 in Nyaribari, Kisii County to a powerful colonial chief: Musa Nyandusi.

Nyachae went to Nyanchwa Seventh-day Adventist School in 1941 and joined Kereri Intermediate School six years later.

In 1949, he was admitted to Kisii Government African School where he completed his A levels.

He then joined South Devon Technical College & Churchill College, Cambridge for his higher education.

In 1954, he was employed at his father’s chief’s camp as a district clerk and six years later posted as a District Officer in Kangundo Division.

1963 saw him appointed District Commissioner and he would later move up the ranks to Provincial Commissioner, a position he served in from 1965 to 1979.

Nyachae was then appointed as Head of Civil Service & Secretary to the Cabinet in 1979 and served in this capacity until 1987.

His political career began after that but in 1988, the Kanu Governing Council barred him from vying as MP.

It was not until 1992 that he was voted in as MP for Nyaribari Chache Constituency and it was in the same year that he was appointed as Minister of Agriculture, Livestock & Marketing.

In 1998, he was appointed as Finance Minister but quit Government a year later after being demoted to the Industry Ministry.

In 2002, he unsuccessfully vied for the Presidency under a Ford-Kenya party ticket. His major comeback was two years later when the then President Mwai Kibaki picked him as Energy Minister.

However, in 2007, he retired from active politics after losing his seat.

In 2018, he was flown to the U.K. for specialized treatment after an accident at home.

The deceased was also a business mogul with investments in the banking, agriculture, manufacturing and construction sectors across the country.

According to the Business Daily, he was among the leading shareholders of the NCBA Group alongside the Kenyatta family, Naushad Merali and the late Central Bank governor Philip Ndegwa.

He had five wives and 20 children: his first wife Esther died in August 2016 after battling a long illness.