Eight things to know about ‘Total Man’ Nicholas Biwott
Kenya’s former powerful Cabinet minister Nicholas Kipyator Biwott is dead.
Mr Biwott, popularly known as ‘Total Man’, passed on at his home in Kileleshwa, Nairobi after a long illness.
Like a colossus
Born 77 years ago, Mr Biwott bestrode Kenya’s political landscape like a colossus in the post 1982 attempted coup era —helping retired President Daniel arap Moi deal with growing Opposition.
Most of his peers hold that when the story of Moi is exhaustively told, he will occupy a number of chapters.
Sources indicate his health had taken a downward spiral in the last one year, and he had been in and out of hospital.
Personal loss
Mr Biwott’s death is yet another personal loss for President Uhuru Kenyatta, coming less than a week after the demise of Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery last Saturday.
Mr Biwott’s National Vision Party of Kenya (NVP) had endorsed President Kenyatta for a second term in office and he was one of the key opinion leaders he was relying on to campaign in the North Rift region.
For a man who was an MP for 28 years, representing Keiyo South Constituency, the loss to the Orange Democratic Movement’s Jackson Kiptanui Kamai in 2007 dealt a humiliating blow to Mr Biwott who had become an institution in the regional politics.
Leaders mourn Biwott
Mr Moi has said he has lost a “dependable friend”.
He said Mr Biwott was “a dedicated public servant, an astute businessman and a philanthropist”.
“(He) initiated community projects to alleviate the suffering of the people he represented of Keiyo,” he said.
Mzee Moi said Kenya had lost a resourceful man whose service helped the nation.