Former Cabinet Minister in the Moi administration Simeon Nyachae is dead, the family has confirmed.
Born in 1932 to the legendary colonial-era chief Musa Nyandusi, Nyachae belonged to the first crop of British-trained African administrators who also made it big in business.
Charles, the oldest son of former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae, extended his appreciation to the team of doctors and nurses that attended to his father over the years until he breathed his last.
“I spoke to the president who conveyed his condolences to us as a family and we appreciate that,” he said.
Nyachae was receiving treatment at the Nairobi Hospital.
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i condoled with the family of Nyachae, calling him a father of many.
In 1998, Finance Minister Nyachae, the son of the former powerful colonial chief, Nyandusi, shocked the nation with a rare admission that Kenya’s economy was in intensive care unit (ICU).
It was a rare but truthful admission from the very man who had been charged with the responsibility of planning for the country’s money. And the action did not go unpunished.
On the front page of The Standard on Saturday, April 25, 1998, then trading as The East African Standard, the bold headline read ‘Economy in the ICU’ sending mixed signals to President Daniel Moi’s government.
Speaking during an inter-parties caucus at Mombasa Continental Resort aimed at finding solutions to an economy which was described as ‘troubled,’ Nyachae said the economy was ailing and needed to be fixed.
Addressing the caucus, Nyachae spelt out measures to tame corruption which had been identified as one of the major causes of the country’s economic woes.
In 2011 The return of former Cabinet minister Simeon Nyachae left many guessing, with others accusing him of engaging in political bargain for certain presidential aspirant, even after saying he had retired from politics.
Until recently, Nyachae, who resigned from active politics in 2007 following a defeat in Nyaribari-Chache, had taken the back seat.
Only his son Charles, the chairman of the Committee of Implementation of the Constitution, had been in the limelight.
But the elderly Nyachae appeared to be contemplating a comeback. Over three months, he had hosted political bigwigs seeking to make inroads in Kisii, including Raila Odinga (then Prime Minister), Kalonzo Musyoka (then Vice President), Uhuru Kenyatta (then Deputy Prime Minister), and William Ruto (then Eldoret North MP).
Simeon Nyachae attended Torquay College, UK, between 1957 and 1959 and later Churchill College, Cambridge.
He rose through the ranks from a District officer in Kangundo and other parts of Machakos District in 1963 to a Provincial Commissioner between 1965 and 1979 and later the Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet in the Moi administration.
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