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Samuel Kivuitu dies in Nairobi aged 74[/h]
The former chairman of the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) Samuel Kivuitu dies in Nairobi aged 74.
Mr Kivuitu died while undergoing cancer treatment at the MP Shah Hospital in Nairobi.
He was in and out of hospital for the past two years and recently sought treatment in India for throat cancer.
The body was removed to the Lee Funeral Home.
As ECK chairman, Mr Kivuitu presided over disputed 2007 General Election.
The disputed poll led to the post election violence in which 1,133 people were killed and 650,000 displaced.
In a past interview with the
Nation after weeks of treatment in India, the former elections chief said although the effects of the disease had slowed him down, he
hoped to participate in the March 4 General Election as an observer and document his expertise in election management in a book.
In the interview, Mr Kivuitu blamed President Kibaki's appointment of members of the electoral commission for the bungled elections. He maintains that he did nothing wrong.
He said the skewed appointment of electoral commissioners deprived his team of public confidence.
President Kibaki ignored calls by the opposition, then led by Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to involve it in filling positions in the defunct ECK.
"Commissioners were appointed in a way that I disapproved. President Kibaki should have consulted the opposition. I was not in full control of the commission because I was working with people who were uncomfortable with me," he said.
