George Saitoti

Honourable George Saitoti E.G.H.
6th Vice-President of Kenya
In office 1 June 1989 – 30 August 2002
President	Daniel arap Moi
Preceded by	Josephat Karanja
Succeeded by	Musalia Mudavadi
Minister of State for Internal Security and Provincial Administration
In office 8 January 2008 – 10 June 2012
President	Mwai Kibaki
Prime Minister	Raila Odinga
Preceded by	John Michuki[1]
Succeeded by	Mohamed Yusuf Haji[2]
Minister of Education
In office 3 January 2003 – 8 January 2008
President	Mwai Kibaki
Preceded by	Henry Kosgey
Succeeded by	Sam Ongeri
Minister of Finance
In office 1988–1993
President	Daniel arap Moi
Preceded by	Arthur Magugu
Succeeded by	Musalia Mudavadi
Member of Parliament
In office April 1988 – 10 June 2012
Preceded by	Philip Odupoy
Succeeded by	Moses Ole Sakuda
Constituency	Kajiado North Constituency
Personal details
Born	George Musengi Saitoti[3] (1945-08-03)3 August 1945[4][5] Maasailand, Kenya
Died	10 June 2012(2012-06-10) (aged 66) Kibiku Forest, near Ngong, Kajiado District, Kenya.[6]
Resting place	Kitengela, Kajiado County.
Political party	KANU (1988–2002) NARC (2002–2007) PNU (2008-2012)
Other political affiliations	United Democratic Front (Kenya)
Spouse	Margaret Saitoti
Relations	Ronald Saitoti (brother) Penny Musengi (niece)
Children	Zachary Musengi[7]
Parents	Zacharia Kiarie (father) Zipporah Gathoni (mother)
Alma mater	Brandeis University University of Sussex University of Warwick
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Businessman economist mathematician

George Musengi Saitoti, E.G.H. (3 August 1945 – 10 June 2012) was a Kenyan politician, businessman and American- and British-trained economist, mathematician and development policy thinker.

As a mathematician, Saitoti served as Head of the Mathematics Department at the University of Nairobi, pioneered the founding of the African Mathematical Union and served as its vice-president from 1976 to 1979.

As an economist, Saitoti served as the Executive Chairman of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1990–91, and as President of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States in 1999–2000, at the crucial phase of re-negotiating the new development partnership agreement to replace the expired Lomé Convention between the ACP bloc and the European Union (EU). His book The Challenges of Economic and Institutional Reforms in Africa^[8] influenced practical policy directions on an array of areas during the turbulent 1980s and 1990s.

Saitoti joined politics as a nominated Member of Parliament and Minister for Finance in 1983, rising to become Kenya's longest-serving Vice-President, a proficient Minister for education, Internal Security and Provincial Administration and Foreign Affairs. Few recognise him as a "reformist",^{[citation needed]} but his recommendations as the Chair of the KANU Review Committee, popularly known as the "Saitoti Committee" in 1990–91, opened KANU to internal changes and set the stage for the repeal of Section 2A and Kenya's return to pluralist democracy. Saitoti left KANU and joined the opposition, becoming a kingpin figure in the negotiations that led to the "NARC Revolution" in 2002. As Minister for Internal Security and Provincial Administration, Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs and key member of the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC), he later worked closely with the national Ministry of Defence to see through the Operation Linda Nchi against the Al-Shabaab insurgent group. In addition, rival factions had for decades invoked the infamous Goldenberg fraud to knock Saitoti out of politics, but the legal courts cleared him of the scandal in July 2006.^[9] Saitoti's dual heritage as a Maasai with Kikuyu family members predisposed him to a pan-Kenyan vision, but also denied him a strong ethnic base unlike his competitors. Saitoti was running as a candidate to succeed President Mwai Kibaki when he died in a helicopter crash in 2012.