PRESIDENT Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has mourned the death of his country’s High Commissioner to Nigeria Wilfred Machage. 

Machage, 65, reportedly slumped after eating lunch in his Abuja residence on Saturday and died in the presence of his wife at the hospital.

“I received the shocking news of the sudden death of my friend and our country’s ambassador to Nigeria Dr Wilfred Machage last evening with disbelief,” Kenyatta said.

The President said Machage will be remembered for his many years of public service over the years as a medical doctor, politician, cabinet minister and diplomat who worked tirelessly for the wellbeing of Kenyans.

Machage was first elected as Member of Parliament to represent the Kuria Constituency in 2002 and has served in several government ministries as an assistant minister and was at one time appointed a cabinet minister for East African Community Affairs.

In 2007 he was the Democratic Party candidate and was elected to represent the Kuria Constituency in the National Assembly of Kenya in the December 2007 parliamentary election. He has also served as the Senator of Migori county between 2012 – 2017.

Until his demise, Machage was the Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria. He has been accredited to 12 other countries in Central and West Africa since January 2018.