Veteran politician and long serving government officer Simeon Nyachae has died at the age of 88. – By Gerald Gekara.
According to the family, Nyachae died at the Nairobi Hospital while recieving treatment.
Friends and family, including fellow government officers and politicians have gathered at the Lee Funeral home where the body is said to be transferred.
Nyachae’s political career began in 1954, when 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.
He was later promoted to 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.
Later on, the minister vied for the 2002 national elections, where he lost to former President Mwai Kibaki.
He retired from competitive politics in 2007, after losing his parliamentary seat.
In 2016, rumours hit the airwaves concerning his medical flight to South Africa, after suffering a stroke.
Prior to his death, Nyachae was admitted to the Nairobi Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, amid rumours that the old leader had died.
