Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru dies in road accident

Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru. (Photo: Courtesy)

Nyeri Governor Wahome Gakuru has passed on in a horrific road accident Tuesday morning at Kabati, along Thika-Murang'a road while heading to Nairobi for a talk show.

Nyeri County Assembly Speaker John Kaguchia has confirmed that the Governor, his driver and bodyguard suffered serious injuries after the early morning accident and were undergoing treatment.

Council of Governors was in the process of airlifting Wahome Gakuru from Thika Level 5 Hospital to Nairobi Hospital.

Governor Wahome's body  has been taken to Lee funeral home as the other two are admitted to hospital. He was born in 1966.

Governor Wahome Gakuru's car involved in road accident. (Photo: Cyrus Ombati/Standard)

The former Vision 2030 director garnered 280,037 votes against Samuel Wamathai’s 85,316 to take the seat he missed in 2013.

The governor’s technocrat background had put him in good stead to deal with a range of issues in his in-tray, having taken over a government that for the better part of the past five years was almost dysfunctional owing to incessant wrangles between the executive and members of the county assembly (MCAs).

Nyeri residents looked up to Gakuru, after a harsh critic of the outgoing administration, for solutions, especially in spurring development and changing the fortunes of the ailing coffee and tea sectors in the county.

Dr Gakuru was also a distinguished academician. Between 2001 and 2004 he obtained a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Arizona State University after graduating from Willamette University – Atkinson Graduate School of Management with a Master of Business Administration degree.

He also held an MBA from the University of Nairobi earned between 1991 and 1993 after graduating from the same institution with B. Com Honours – Business Administration in 1991 havng had joined theUniversity in 1988.

He was a lecturer at the School of Business at the University of Nairobi since 1994 where he taught Ph.D candidates besides running his consultancy.

Gakuru the politician was a member of The National Alliance Party from 2013 before moving joining the Jubilee Alliance later same year.

He lost the battle for Nyeri governorship in 2013 to Nderitu Gachagua who died in 2017 after a long battle with cancer

On Linked In, Dr Gakuru’s profile reads: “I have over 20 years of rich and diverse experience in a variety of business skills ranging from Operations, Marketing, Strategy, Public Policy Design, to Training and Institutional Capacity Building. My experience is also cross sectoral covering the Private Sector, Public, State Corporations and Academia.

Additionally, I have considerable top level experience having held several Director level positions. I am currently the Group Operations Director at Bonfide Group, a leading logistics company. I am also a Director at Dhamana Africa, a management consultancy firm.

 Prior to this, I was the Director of Marketing, Policy and Advocacy at Equity Bank, a leading bank in the region. Before Equity, I served as the first Director of the Kenya Vision 2030 at the Presidency and Cabinet Affairs Office and later at the Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030.

I was also the Director, Social Sector Department at the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) and the Head of Strategy Development at the National AIDS Control Council."