Nyachae: Dedicated family man who fathered over 35 children

Former Cabinet Minister Simeon Nyachae who died on February 01, 2021 at the age of 88. 

File | Nation Media Group

By  Nyambega Gisesa

What you need to know:

• The late Nyachae had at least six known wives and over 35 children. 
• His first wife, Esther Nyaboke, who died in 2016, had several daughters and two sons.

Former minister Charles Nyachae leaves behind a political dynasty with vast business interests running into billions of shillings and dozens of children  — many of them married to other well-connected families, including members of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s extended family.

The Nyachaes are among the leading investors in Kisii town while his national business interests range from various companies among them Kabansora, Sansora, Credit Bank, and NCBA Group to large scale wheat farming.

The late Nyachae had at least six known wives and over 35 children. 

His first wife, Esther Nyaboke, who died in 2016, had several daughters and two sons.

His second wife Druscilla Kerubo had only one daughter, Mary. She died three months after giving birth to her.

Nyachae’s most known family is that of his third wife Martha Mwango, who was the sister to Lawrence Sagini, Kenya’s first Minister for Education. Martha is the mother to among others Charles Nyachae, Noah, Ndemo, Kennedy, Mike and Nyandusi, who are some of the former minister’s most known children. 

His fourth wife, Sylvia, is the sister of Jane Kiano, the wife of Gikonyo Kiano, a Cabinet minister throughout the Kenyatta years and the first Kenyan to earn a PhD. Sylvia has three sons.

Family divisions

His fifth wife Grace Wamuyu, is a scion of the Mbiyu Koinange family. Grace is the mother of businessman Lee Nyachae. Both Grace and the late Nyachae are board members of Credit Bank.

The former minister raised all his children, whom he normally lived with.

“The children mostly stayed with their father and at times away from their mothers. He kept a file of his children’s birth and academic certificates and only gave them the documents recently when his health worsened,” a close family friend said.  

When he was alive, Nyachae made every effort to unite his family behind his political ambitions and political divide of his liking. But as he neared his death, his family appeared to be pulling apart.

A week before his death, Nyachae’s son Noah turned up at a church with Interior CS Dr Fred Matiang’i, who is pushing for the BBI. His other brother Charles has been championing for the hustlers movement allied to Deputy President William Ruto, which terms the BBI as a waste of taxpayer resources.

Alongside Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi, Charles is now among the senior most politicians from the Gusii region who are pushing for a DP Ruto presidency in 2022.

Kenyatta-Nyachae family ties

On the other side, Noah and his brothers Lee and Ken have aligned themselves with Dr Matiang’i who is in the same political path with both President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga.

The political divide was evident yesterday when DP Ruto announced that Charles had called him to confirm that his father had died.  

A few minutes before DP Ruto announced the death during the funeral ceremony of the father of Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi, Mr Odinga told the mourners that the news of the passing of the former minister was yet to be confirmed and went on to ask Kenyans to pray for the family.

Notably, the Nyachae’s kept close relations with the Kenyatta family. One of Nyachae’s sons known as Kennedy was married to a daughter of Betty Mugo, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s cousin.

The relations among the two families extend to the colonial times.

Five days before he was arrested and sent to Kapenguria, Jomo Kenyatta hid at the home of colonial chief Musa Nyandusi, the father of the late Nyachae, to avoid being arrested by the British colonialists.