George Saitoti

Prof. George Kinuthia Saitoti (born 1945) is a Kenyan politician and mathematician who was Vice President of Kenya from 1989 to 1997 and again from 1999 to 2002. He has been Minister for Internal Security since 2008 and Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010.

Biography and education

George Saitoti is both Maasai, and Kikuyu. by origin. Ironically, Human Rights Watch accused him of inciting ethnic violence in the Rift Valley Province during the run-up to the 1992 Kenyan general elections, violence that was mainly directed against the Kikuyu.

He studied at Mang'u High School and received his undergraduate education in the U.S. at Brandeis University on a Wien Scholarship. Saitoti obtained a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Warwick in 1972 in the area of algebraic topology.

On August 30, 2002, Saitoti was dismissed as Vice-President by President Daniel arap Moi for disloyalty; Saitoti was also removed from his post as Vice-Chairman of the Kenyan African National Union (KANU). In the December 2002 election, he won the Kajiado North Constituency seat for the NARC party.

Goldenberg scandal and afterwards

On 13 February 2006 Saitoti's resignation as Minister of Education was announced by President Mwai Kibaki in a television address, after accusations that he was involved in the Goldenberg scandal. The Kenyan High Court ruled on 31 July 2006 that Saitoti should not be charged over the Goldenberg scandal. On 15 November 2006 he was reinstated as Education Minister by Kibaki.

In the Cabinet appointed by Kibaki on January 8, 2008, following the controversial December 2007 election, Saitoti was named Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security in the Office of the President. After a power-sharing agreement was reached between Kibaki and Raila Odinga, both of whom claimed victory in the 2007 election, Saitoti retained his post in the grand coalition Cabinet named on April 13, 2008.

Saitoti has expressed his desire to run for President of Kenya in 2012.

Positions

• Minister of Finance (1983–1988)
• Vice President (May 1989 - Dec 1997)
• Minister for Planning and National Development (December 1997 - April 1999)
• Vice President (April 1999 - 30 August 2002)
• Minister of Education (January 2003 - November 2005)
• Minister of Education (7 December 2005 - 13 February 2006)
• Minister of Education (November 2006 - January 2008)
• Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security (January 2008 – present)
• Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs (October 2010 – August 2011)

External links

• http://www.parliament.go.ke/MPs/members_saitoti_prof_g.php
• Research
• Goldenberg a tough test for the maths don

Preceded by Josephat Njuguna Karanja	Vice-President of Kenya 1989–1997	Succeeded by Vacant
Preceded by Vacant	Vice-President of Kenya 1999–2002	Succeeded by Musalia Mudavadi