Former Minister Joseph Otiende dies

Former Minister Joseph Otiende

One of Kenya’s pioneer Cabinet Ministers Joseph Otiende has died at a Kisumu hospital aged 100 years.

Otiende, known as J.D to his peers passed away Wednesday morning at the Avenue hospital in Kisumu where he has been undergoing treatment for the past One month. Family members and doctors have confirmed his death.

The late Otiende was among those appointed to the first Cabinet by Kenya's founding President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta soon after the country won independence from Britain in 1963.

Otiende was not only a politician but a freedom fighter, educationist and an administrator.

He was born in 1917 at Akelo village in Vihiga County.

Opposition Leaders Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula were among dignitaries who visited him at the hospital.

The late Minister attended Maseno School in 1926, alongside Kenya's first Vice President and father to Raila, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who died in 1994. He will be remembered for his witty and scholarly contributions during Parliamentary and Cabinet meetings.