Former Laikipia North MP Mathew Lempurkel Lekidime died in hospital after being admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

He had been hospitalised following a road accident at the Exciting area in Ongata Rongai while heading home earlier last week, his family said.

He died Sunday morning.

Lempurkel, who once represented Laikipia North in the National Assembly, had been battling for his life since the crash, which left him with critical injuries, six days ago.

In 2021, Lempurkel was sentenced to one year in prison for assault in a case that drew widespread public attention. The matter stemmed from a 2016 incident in which he was accused of assaulting the current Laikipia North MP, Sarah Korere, at Harambee House in Nairobi.

According to court papers presented then, Lempurkel “wilfully and unlawfully assaulted Sarah Korere by slapping her on the left cheek and kicking her on the lower abdomen, thereby occasioning her actual bodily harm.”

Lempurkel was a strong advocate for Maa rights, known for his bold stance on land rights, cultural preservation, and community way of life protection.

In 2013, he contested the Laikipia North parliamentary seat and won on an ODM party ticket, defeating at least four other candidates, as per the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) results.

In November 2023, he ditched the Orange Democratic Movement party for the United Democratic Alliance. He later joined former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s DCP party.

Before his election as MP, the former legislator was a renowned philanthropist serving his community as the Executive Director of Ndugu Zangu Christian Community Charitable Trust.

The Catholic Church-based organisation was key in changing the lives of thousands of children with heart problems, whom it sponsored for surgeries in leading cardiac hospitals in Italy, among other parts of the world.

The organisation helped pipe water from the Ewaso Nyiro River to far-flung areas of Ol Donyiro and Kipsing in Isiolo county, among other multi-million shilling development projects.

Gachagua mourned the death of the former MP. ODM too mourned the death.