According to medical reports, Maruge was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach early last year.

When AfricaNews visited the home after the his death was announced,, his colleagues atthe Home were shocked by the news of his death.

Donatila Ekuyi, one of the catholic nuns who were caring for him and also the matron of the home, said Maruge was a jovial and co-operative old man. She said he lived well with other members in the home for the old and he would be dearly missed."We are shocked to lose Maruge," said Ekuyi.

Maruge's mercurial rise from a peasant Mau Mau war veteran in Eldoret's Kapkenduiywa village was seen by many in and out of Kenya as the symbol of resilience and hope for many uneducated people. His enrollment at the local Kapkenduiywa Primary School in class one put the sleepy village in Rift Valley to international fame.

Thanks to his big step of hope, many adults who had dropped out of school due to lkack of school fees went back to school after the introduction of free primary school education by the then newly formed NARC government in January 2003.

For this reason, and also for the fact that he enrolled in the first grade at over 75 years, granted him a place in the Guiness Book of World Records as the world's oldest person to enroll in school. He has traversed the country as the ambassador of free primary school education. He also achieved what he never dreamed of- boarding a plane. He once told Kenyan and international reporters that he never on any occasion thought that he would fly on a plane. He said this after visiting New York, at a UNESCO summit on education.

On enrolling at Kapkenduiywa primary school, Maruge had told reporters that all he wanted was to know to read the Holy Bible. He also added that he wanted to take higher education- tertiary education.

However, the post election violence dashed his hopes, as he was rootedout of his home in Eldoret, ending up as an Internally Displaced Person. He was later taken in at the Cheshire Home For The Old. He was admited to the Kenyatta National Hospital, where he was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach.

Maruge's granddaughter, who had lived with him after being displaced from Eldoret last year, said Maruge, had an ear for everyone even though he was battling stomach cancer, which was diagnosed last year.

"He was ready to listen to everyone. I will dearly miss his advice," she told The Standard on Saturday. Ekuyi said Maruge’s health deteriorated from April when he was operated on at Kenyatta National Hospital.

"He could hardly take solid food. He drank milk, sodas and fruit juices," she said.