Former powerful minister,Nicholas Biwott,is dead.
Bowott died today morning at Nairobi Hospital’s ICU unit. He had been admitted at the hospital for the better part of the year for cancer treatment.
Biwott was the most powerful minister under KANU government and he used his position to amass wealth. Until his death, he was ranked third richest Kalenjin alive.
Kipyator Nicholas Kiprono arap Biwott (born 1940) was a Kenyan businessman, politician and philanthropist. Biwott served as a civil servant, Member of Parliament and government minister, during which time he held eight senior ministerial positions, worked alongside Kenya’s first three presidents – Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki – and with many significant public figures in post-independence Kenya, including Bruce McKenzie besides Tom Mboya
Biwott was a member of parliament for 28 years. In 1974 he ran unsuccessfully as a prospective MP for the Keiyo South Constituency. At the next election in 1979 he was successful, standing on KANU ticket in Keiyo-Marakwet, retaining the seat in 1983 and 1988. In 1992, 1997, and 2002 he was elected the MP for Keiyo South Constituency. In the Parliamentary elections held on 27 December 2007, running on a KANU ticket, he lost his seat to Jackson Kiptanui arap Kamai of the Orange Democratic Party (ODM). The ODM swept to victory in all but one of KANU’s seats on the Rift Valley.
Following the 2002 election, Biwott served on the Devolution Committee of the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission. Biwott was the only Member of Parliament, however, he abstained on the Constitutional Referendum held in 2005, stating that the Draft Constitution ‘would divide the country along ethnic lines’. The draft Constitution was rejected at the Referendum.
