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.

George Saitoti was born on 3 August 1945[4][5] and brought up in Maasailand, where he spent his childhood herding cattle in line with the Masai culture, and attending school.

[11] This was a scholarship program started by Tom Mboya and William X. Scheinmann and supported by the John F. Kennedy foundation and the African American Students Association to address the educational needs of newly independent Kenya.

He enrolled for his doctoral studies at the University of Warwick where he acquired his PhD in mathematics in 1972; writing his dissertation under the supervision of professor Luke Hodgkin in the area of algebraic topology under the topic: Mod-2 K-Theory of the Second Iterated Loop Space on a Sphere.

Top decision-makers in government had recognised Saitoti as a policy thinker and technocrat, of whom the KANU desperately needed to fix its institutions, politics and the economy.

[21] In October 1983, President Daniel arap Moi nominated Saitoti as a member of parliament and subsequently appointed him to the Cabinet as Minister for Finance.

[22] During the 1988 general elections, Saitoti entered competitive politics and won the Kajiado North parliamentary seat that was previously held by Philip Odupoy.

Prior to the tenure of Adupoy and Saitoti, the Kajiado North multi-ethnic constituency was held by the popular politician, John Keen, another half-Maasai who champion a nationalist vision and worked over the years to ensure the advancement of his mother's people.

Saitoti became Kenya's longest sitting vice-president serving for 13 years under President Daniel arap Moi between May 1989 and January 1998 and again between April 1999 and August 2002 (see table 2).

[citation needed] In 1999–2000, Saitoti also served as president of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, becoming instrumental in helping negotiate a new development partnership agreement to succeed the previous Lomè Convention that expired in February 2000 between the ACP and the European Union.

[33] The Saitoti Review Committee thrust the party on the reform path, but also widened internal ideological schisms between "KANU-A" conservatives and "KANU-B" pro-reformers over the Moi succession question.

Even as President Moi reappointed him in April 1999, on the roadside in Limuru, Kiambu he made a scathing remark to the effect that: "I've given back Prof Saitoti the seat of Vice-President, hopefully now your sufurias (pots) will be full of food.

"[24] Months before the general elections of 2002, Saitoti's name was deleted from the list of KANU delegates and his ascendancy to the presidency blocked by 'unknown' party members.

[36] On 18 March 2002, when KANU held its national delegates conference at the Kasarani sports complex, the move to block Saitoti from the succession game was manifest.

[46] Saitoti blamed his re-election glitch on intrigues of power by KANU forces within the PNU campaign which underwrote his rivals to knock him out of politics and potentially out of the 2012 Presidential elections.

On 8 January 2008, he was appointed Minister of State for Internal Security and Provincial Administration in the Office of the President, a position previously occupied by a Kibaki confidant, John Michuki.

[47] Saitoti retained the Internal Security docket even after President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga established the power-sharing government that ended the 2008 post-election crisis.

Between October 2010 and August 2011, Saitoti was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs on an acting capacity after the incumbent, Moses Wetangula, stepped aside to allow investigations on alleged corruption.

[48] In July 2009, Saitoti was appointed to head a special cabinet sub-committee formed to oversee the affairs of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Kenya.

[49] Members of this bi-partisan committee include; George Saitoti, Mutula Kilonzo and Moses Wetangula (PNU) and James Orengo, Otieno Kajwang and Amason Kingi (ODM).

[51] Saitoti has maintained a legal interpretation on whether the suspects can vie for presidency in the coming elections, stressing that only the constitution can bar or let them free to enter the race.

[52] On 19 December 2008, President Mwai Kibaki who was unanimously endorsed as Party Leader at the PNU National Delegates Conference (NDC) held at Kasarani sports complex in Nairobi.

In November 2010, Musyoka, Kenyatta and Saitoti signed a protocol to form and transform the PNU Alliance into a common political vehicle for the 2013 presidential race.

In early 1999, Raila Odinga as a presidential contender to succeed Moi as president, sued Saitoti and others over alleged role in the Goldenberg scandal.

[42] The Goldenberg spectre returned to haunt Saitoti in the wake of the fierce political infighting between the LDP/KANU faction and Kibaki supporters in NARC that followed the 2005 referendum.

[63] In April 2012, the vetting board found Justice Samuel Bosire unfit to serve in the judiciary citing fails as the Chairman of the Goldenberg Commission of Inquiry.

He ignored a High Court Order to summon retired President Daniel arap Moi, Musalia Mudavadi and Nicholas Biwott as witnesses.

The vetting board also accused Justice Nyamu of undermining public confidence in the courts for issuing a permanent stay of prosecution against Saitoti.

[68] Saitoti died on Sunday 10 June 2012 at around 9:00 am when a Eurocopter AS350 helicopter belonging to the Kenya Police Air Wing registration 5Y-CDT,[69] carrying him and the Assistant Minister for Internal Security, Joshua Orwa Ojode, crashed in the Kibiku area of Ngong forest, killing them and four others.