Former Finance Minister David Mwiraria died on Thursday at Karen hospital after battling with cancer for a period of time.
He died aged 79.
He was born in 1938 in Imenti North, Meru County. He has served both as an MP and as a Minister in President Daniel Moi’s and Mwai Kibaki’s regime.
Mwiraria served as Kibaki’s right-hand man assuming the powerful docket of Finance that is today’s National Treasury.
He is an alumnus of Makerere University where he attained his Masters after attaining his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at the University of East Africa, Uganda according to Daily Nation.
He first got into politics in 1992 where he successfully vied for North Imenti MP. In 2002, he was then appointed as Finance Minister by retired President Mwai Kibaki.
The late Mwiraria has received accolades for instilling a sense of financial discipline in government. It is under his stewardship in the ministry of Finance that fluctuating interest rates for Kenya were tamed.
Additionally, he has been lauded by his peers as a visionary leader who introduced the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) now changed to National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) which hitherto, have changed many livelihoods across the 290 constituencies.
But his illustrious career as Finance Minister hit rock bottom in 2006 when he was forced to resign over the Anglo-leasing scandal.
He was charged with four counts of conspiracy to commit an economic crime and to defraud the government of Sh4.08 billion.
He was also accused of engaging in a project without prior planning and allowing irregular financing of a project intended to upgrade police and other security systems dubbed E-Cops worth Sh6.08 billion according to the Star.
His family had not given a statement on his demise by the time of going to press.