Ruto's chief of staff, Ken Osinde, is dead

Chief of Staff at the Office of the Deputy President, Ken Osinde, is dead.

Osinde, 59, died at the Nairobi Hospital on Friday.

He had been admitted with an undisclosed illness.

A family spokesman said Osinde had been unwell in the past few months and liver complications was among the issues that were being addressed.

He was admitted to the Nairobi Hospital last where he had been for less than a week before passing on.

His condition deteriorated and he was moved to the ICU and on Thursday, the family sought help to get blood.

An appeal was made, including on social media and a number of his friends turned up for the donation. The appeal was repeated the following day as the condition worsened.

“Ken was stressed in the past few months but we did not understand what the problem was,” said one of his colleagues.

Deputy President William Ruto took to Twitter and said,

Osinde began working as chief of staff in the Office of the Deputy President on October 25, 2016.

He was described as “cool-headed” by many who knew him.

Despite his low media profile, he was an easy-going and pragmatic diplomat who ensured the Harambee House Annex, the DP's office, ran effectively despite Ruto’s busy schedule.

As chief of staff, he was a go-between between the staff, the public and the DP and mediated many disputes before they would reach Ruto.

Osinde was instrumental in running things at the DP's office.

For instance, last August, Osinde put the Interior ministry on the spot over the withdrawal of Ruto’s security.

He released a statement saying that on numerous occasions, some prominent politicians and leaders had publicly stated that Ruto will not be on the ballot come 2022 elections.

“You have refused to act upon reports made to you on the implications of such remarks for the security, safety, and well-being of the Deputy President,” Osinde said.

And in February last year, he wrote to Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai asking him to investigate all staff at the DP’s office including police officers who could have aided former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa and his team access Ruto’s Harambee House Annex office.

This was in relation to the the fake Sh39 billion arms tender saga.

His statement was released barely a day before a police officer, Sergeant Frank Kipyegon Kenei, attached to Ruto’s Harambee House Annex office was found dead in his Nairobi house.

Osinde was born on August 18, 1962.

Ken completed a Masters degree in Arts at the University of Nairobi in 1988, where he published a thesis looking at how Kisii people pronounce consonants in their Ekegusii language.

He also had a Masters of Business Administration from the Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI).

He worked for many years as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi in Linguistics and African Languages where he pioneered research and published on Sheng and youth languages.

He then took up the post of manager at the National Bank of Kenya, where he rose to the position of Head of the Strategic Planning Group. He was also a personal assistant to the executive chairman.

Ken also worked in the insurance industry as CEO and director of the College of Insurance.

In April 2010, then President Mwai Kibaki announced his appointment as Kenya’s ambassador to Germany.

Osinde took part on the inauguration of the first direct flight from Mombasa to Berlin, Germany, by Air Berlin.

He was also accredited to Bulgaria and Romania and spoke English, Kiswahili, and Kisii.

Edited by CM