HON KYALE MWENDWA PASSES ON

• A Former Cabinet Minister and brother in law to politician and ex minister Nyiva Mwendwa
• Served as the MP for Kitui West.
• Lost the Kitui West seat in the 1988 General Elections to Nyiva Mwendwa, a wife to his late brother Kitili Maluki Mwendwa.

Hon Kyale Mwendwa was an education icon, the son of a paramount chief. He hailed from a well politically connected and established family in Kitui.

Kyale, who once served as a cabinet minister, died aged 94. Kyale died on November 3^rd, 2020 at Aga khan Hospital in Nairobi where he was undergoing treatment.

He had been sickly for some time and his health had been deteriorating. He quit elective politics in 1992 after which he ventured into farming and business.

In business, the late Kyale established St Austin Schools, a chain of private academies in Nairobi, as well as hotels and ranches.

The former Minister was the youngest son of Kitui paramount chief Mwendwa Kitavi. A paramount chief is the English-language designation for the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a chief-based system.

Born in March 23rd, 1926, Kyale was the first Director of Education after Kenya achieved Independence in 1963.

Kyale was elected to parliament in the 1985 by-election, which was occasioned by the death of his brother Kitili Maluki Mwendwa in a road accident, whom he succeeded.

Former President Daniel Moi appointed Kyale as the minister for Livestock Development and later transferred him to the Ministry of Water.

He lost the Kitui West seat three years later in the 1988 General Elections to Nyiva Mwendwa, a wife to his late brother Kitili Maluki Mwendwa.

Kitili Maluki Mwendwa was Kenya’s first African Chief Justice. He served between 1968-1971 and was succeeded by Sir James Wicks.

Kitili Maluki’s wife, Nyiva Mwendwa, was the first Kenyan woman to serve as a cabinet minister.

Nyiva Mwendwa was appointed the Minister for Culture and Social Services in 1995, becoming the first female minister in Kenya. She caused a national stir in 1995 when she travelled to women’s conference in Beijing in 1995 and took a hairdresser as a part of her delegation.

Mwendwa herself defended the decision by stating that being a delegation leader, she must take care of her appearance.

The late Kyale other brother was late Eliud Ngala Mwendwa who died on June 8, 2016. Ngala was a Kenyan teacher and politician and once served as MP for Kitui Central.

He was a member of the Kenyan delegation to the 1960 Lancaster House Conference, which negotiated the country’s independence from the United Kingdom.

Ngala then served as Minister for Labour within President Jomo Kenyatta’s first post-independence 15-member cabinet.

He ultimately served as the Minister for Labour and Social Services from 1963 until 1974 under Kenyatta.