A 2014 picture of Uhuru Kenyatta when he was Deputy Prime Minister, former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae, KFF Chairman Sam Nyamweya and Belgut MP Charles Keter at the Nairobi Central Seventh Day Adventist Church where they attended the wedding of Vincent Aberi and Fiona Ongeri. The bride was the daughter of Education Minister Prof. Sam Ongeri. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]
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.
As Parliamentary Select Committee interim chairman, Simeon Nyachae displays a copy of the draft constitution during a press briefing at County Hall. [File, Standard]
“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, Musa 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, in 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.
Simeon Nyachae (C) introduces wives from left Esther Nyaboke, Martha and Grace. The other gentleman is one-time Cabinet Minister Andrew Omanga in this 1993 photo. [File, Standard]
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.
Simeon Nyachae when he was the Central Provincial Commissioner at a passing-out parade at Administrartion Police Training College presents an award to one of the best course participants. [File, Standard]
Only his son Charles, a judge in the East African Court of Justice, has been in the limelight.
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.
