By Brian Okoth and Nyaboga Kiage.

Machakos Senator Boniface Kabaka is dead.

Kabaka died while receiving treatment at the Nairobi Hospital. K24 Digital understands that Kabaka was removed from the hospital’s ICU facility at 10:50am Friday, December 11.

The senator’s two widows, children and other family members were present during the exercise. The family, thereafter, held a meeting before they could break the news to the public.

The lawmaker was admitted to Nairobi Hospital’s intensive care unit on December 4 after he fell ill in a Kilimani apartment.

Kabaka, who checked into the apartment on December 3, was reported to have developed a sudden headache, prompting a friend he was with, Esther Muli, to alert the apartment’s management, who called an ambulance and rushed the senator to Nairobi Hospital while in critical condition.

Kabaka was reported to have vomited, prompting authorities to investigate a possible poisoning. Muli was consequently arrested in connection with the legislator’s sudden ailing.

A medical report on the analysis of Kabaka’s vomit samples, however, ruled out foul play after the Government Chemist on Wednesday communicated that there were no toxins in the senator’s vomitus.

Muli, who was being held in lawful custody at the Kilimani Police Station, was consequently released on cash bail, upon the orders of a Nairobi court.

A report on the December 3 and December 4 incidents reveal that Kabaka checked into 3Dee Apartment on Elgeyo-Marakwet Road at around 2pm. One hour later – 3pm – he was joined by 45-year-old Esther Muli, a widow who works as a teacher at a Makueni secondary school.

The two would, thereafter, leave for Room 306, where they spent a better part of December 3 afternoon and evening. The report further states that the pair, using telephone devices in their room, ordered food and drinks, which were taken to them.

That service marked the last time the apartment staff members were interacting with Kabaka and Muli before he was taken ill a few hours past midnight.

A few minutes past 2am on December 4, Muli is said to have alerted the apartment employees that her company, Kabaka, had developed a sudden headache, and his health condition was worrying by the minute.

Muli said she gave Kabaka paracetamol tablets, but his health condition did not improve.

Police officers from Kilimani post, who were alerted about the incident, rushed to 3Dee Apartment and collected evidence, which was submitted to the Government Chemist for analysis. A December 4 police report on the incident described some of the evidence as “perishable”.

Kabaka, a first-time senator, won the Machakos senatorial race in the August 8, 2017 general election. Running on a Chama Cha Uzalendo (CCU) Party ticket, Kabaka defeated Wiper Party’s Jackson Kalla. Kalla would later file an appeal in court against Kabaka’s win.

On February 2, 2018, the High Court upheld Kabaka’s victory in the Machakos senatorial contest.

Judge David Kemei, in his judgement, threw out Kalla’s petition, saying the challenger did not present sufficient evidence to back his claims of election fraud.

In his court papers, Kalla argued that forms 38A relied on by the electoral board to declare Kabaka the victor, did not have signatures and that some of the forms lacked security features. Kalla also alleged that his agents were denied access to the polling stations.

Following the petition loss, Kalla was ordered to pay Ksh2 million in costs each to Kabaka and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Well educated

At the time of his death, Kabaka was pursuing a PhD in Finance Law at the University of Nairobi (UoN).

The late lawmaker holds three Master’s degrees from UoN. Between 2006 and 2009, he pursued a Master’s of Law Degree, and thereafter enrolled for Master of Arts in Diplomacy, which he completed in 2011.

The senator got his first Master’s Degree in Business Administration in 2009 after pursuing the course for five years, beginning 2004.

Kabaka studied an undergraduate Degree in Law at the UoN between 1987 and 1990.

He also holds a Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law (KSL). He pursued the program between 1991 and 1992.