George Kebaso
Former presidential aspirant Lihanda Savai is dead.
The 84-year-old succumbed to high blood pressure at Jumuia Hospital in Kakamega on Sunday.
His son, Abinayo Kivisi told People Daily on phone that his father had been admitted to the hospital a week earlier, adding that he had in recent years been in and out of hospital.
“For the past six years, he has been sickly. It is in fact the reason we moved him from Kibera in Nairobi in 2013,” he said.
He said the family moved Lihanda after his second wife allegedly deserted him and he could not fend for himself. Lihanda will be buried in Sabatia, Vihiga on Saturday.
Radical Pan-Africanist
In 2002, he attempted to run for president but failed because he could not afford to collect enough signatures or raise the money candidates were required to deposit with the electoral commission.
Lihanda had left the country in 1966 for Greece where he joined University of Athens. While studying in Greece, the radical Pan-Africanist obtained degrees in Philosophy, Law, Culture and Comparative Education.
He returned to the country secretly in December 1988 through Tanzania because of his divergent political stand against the dictatorial Nyayo regime.
The family has appealed to the government to help with the burial expenses.
