Former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae has died in Nairobi the age of 88.

This is according to a statement issued by his family on Monday announcing that he died while being treated at Nairobi Hospital.

Nyachae was born on February 6, 1932 at Nyaribari in Kisii County to then powerful colonial chief Musa Nyandusi.

He attended Nyanchwa Seventh-Day Adventist School in 1941 before joining the Kereri Intermediate School in 1938.

In 1949, he joined Kisii Government African School to finish his A-levels before being admitted to South Devon Technical College & Churchill College, Cambridge for higher education.

Nyachae was employed at his father Nyandusi’s chief’s camp as a district clerk in before being posted as a District Officer in Kangundo Division.

In 1963 he was appointed the District Commissioner and rose up the ranks to become a Provincial Commissioner from 1965 to 1979.


The former minister was admitted at Nairobi Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in 2016 before being flown to South Africa for specialised treatment after he reportedly suffered a stroke.

He was the Nyaribari Chache MP from 1992 to 2002 and once served as the Cabinet Minister for Agriculture and later moved to the Finance ministry.

He resigned from cabinet in 1999 after falling out with then President Daniel arap Moi.

In 2016, he supported President Uhuru Kenyatta’s reelection in the 2017 General Election and later explained that he has been a close friend to the Kenyattas for decades.

Nyachae was an astute businessman and invested in agriculture, real estate, banking, transport and manufacturing sectors in the country.

He was also reported to have interests in NCBA Group together with the Kenyatta family, Naushad Merali and late Central Bank governor Philip Ndegwa.

Nyachae had five wives and 20 children.