Antipas Nyanjwa was on Monday having lunch with three friends in a hotel in Upper Hill, Nairobi when he had breathing difficulties and collapsed.
The friends picked him up and rushed him to the Coptic Hospital, about two kilometres away but he did not make it.
Doctors declared the deputy director of investigations at the National Land Commission dead on arrival.
Officials suspect heart attack, but the death is being investigated. The food he was eating was taken for tests. A postmortem is planned to find the cause of death.
One of the friends told the family Nyanjwa asked him to ensure he gets a decent send-off.
“It seems he knew he was dying. He asked to be given a decent send-off,” said one of the friends.
Nyanjwa had a history of heart-related complications and had apparently recovered from Covid-19.
Witnesses said he was fit and in jovial mod hours before his death. He had left office at Bishop Gardens to the area.
Officials at the commission said Nyanjwa had been moved to Homa Bay as the county coordinator but had yet to report to work. He was moved on July 20 last year but appealed the decision.
On April 7, acting NLC secretary Kabale Tache directed Nyanjwa to immediately report to his new posting.
“Further to your transfer to Homa Bay county vide letter dated 20th July 2020 and your appeal dated 28th July 2020, I am writing to notify you that the matter was deliberated by the commission during its 81st sitting that was held on 25th and 29th March 2021.
“It was resolved that you ought to have reported to Homa Bay county as envisaged. Pursuant to this, I am writing to ask you to report to Homa Bay county with immediate effect,” said Tache in her letter.
Insiders said this did not please Nyanjwa who saw it as a punishment, having cited health as one of the reasons he did not want to be moved.
He was the deputy head of investigations at the commission since 2014 when he joined from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
Nyanjwa had served as the deputy head of document examination section of the forensic unit at the DCI. He had also served as an instructor at the DCI academy.
“He was one of the celebrated document examiners in the country. He was a dedicated man,” said one of his colleagues who had worked with him at the DCI.
Officials at the commission said Nyanjwa had been expressing fears for his life over investigations on land cartels he was handling. He reported the fears to his bosses.
Nyanjwa’s death comes a month after the deputy director of communication Jennifer Wambua was found murdered in Ngong. Three suspects have since been arrested over the death as the probe into the murder goes on. She was strangled by bare hands.
Police said they had not established a link between the two deaths.
On November 28, 2008, Nyanjwa was attacked and seriously wounded as he and his wife Violet drove to their home in Kisumu.
Court documents showed about four people wearing police jungle jackets and claiming they were police officers from Winam Camp showed up and engaged them in a conversation before they attacked the couple.
He and his wife were cut at the back of the head. He woke up at Aga Khan Hospital after four days and was later airlifted to Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi for further treatment.
His wife was treated at Aga Khan Hospital and discharged the same day.
The attackers robbed Nyanjwa of his pistol, Sh328,000, two mobile phones and other personal effects. Two of the suspects were later arrested and jailed over the incident.
Edited by Henry Makori