NAIROBI, Kenya July 8 – President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi to the Interior ministry on acting capacity, following the death of Joseph Nkaissery.
President Kenyatta said he made the quick decision to ensure there is no vacuum in the management of the country’s security.
“I have taken the decision to appoint Dr Fred Matiangi as the acting Minister for Internal Security to ensure that there is no vacuum,” the president said in a televised address from State House, Nairobi.
The president said he last spoke to Nkaissery at9.30 pm, “we were discussing issues pertaining to peace and unity for this country and indeed in one of his last night we spend time discussing his great passion which is Kenya’s preparedness in the junior athletics which will be commencing in the next few days.”
He urged Kenyans to remain calm and await postmortem results to show the cause of Nkaissery’s death.
Although a statement from State House Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua stated that he died at Karen Hospital where he had gone for a medical check up, details emerged Saturday morning indicating that Interior Cabinet Secretary was rushed to hospital after collapsing in his house.
According to leaders quoting his security detail and family members, Nkaissery had just taken dinner with his family, did regular exercises before he collapsed and was rushed to Karen Hospital where he was pronounced dead, in what is believed to be a heart attack.
“I have spoken to his closest bodyguard who says they were together, and whenever he goes home he engages in exercises before retiring to bed. And he did that and even had dinner with his wife, so falling down and being taken to hospital, whether it is cardiac arrest, he had not showed any signs,” Kajiado Senator Peter Mositet told journalists at the Lee Funeral Home where Nkaissery’s body is preserved awaiting postmortem.
And when he spoke to journalists at the Lee Funeral Home, Kinyua said “Let us not speculate, let us wait for the postmortem report.”
The death of Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery has been described as a big blow to the country, coming just a month to the August 8 General Election.
Former Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku, who is vying for the Kajiado gubernatorial seat, said the loss will also be felt in the Maasai land where he was regarded as the head, since the death of William Ole Ntimama.
“This is not only a big loss to the community but a loss to the whole country because of the position Nkaissery was holding,” Lenku said, while describing Nkaissery as a dedicated and selfless leader.
Elijah Memusi who replaced Nkaissery as MP for Kajiado Central urged Kenyans to remain calm, while saying it is a huge loss to the country.
“It is a loss to the whole country and the timing is bad because the county is headed to General Election, and I want to tell the Maa community that the death of Nkaissery should unite us,” he said.
Speaker of Nairobi County Assembly Alex Ole Magelo said, “it is hard to imagine that Nkaissery is dead because he was in good health.”
