Former President Uhuru Kenyatta has, for the first time, talked about his health struggles years after leaving office.

Speaking at the funeral of veteran banker and former Housing Finance managing director Frank Ireri, the former president hinted at having serious health challenges, saying he had leaned on the experience of the deceased to cope.

Whilst Uhuru was not explicit on what he was suffering from, he suggested being critically ill at some point last year.

Ireri succumbed to cancer on October 26 at The Nairobi Hospital.

"I have lost a friend and a colleague. And especially for me, and I don't know whether I should say this, but these are realities of life. In the last year, a good part of this year, whenever we met, he was very encouraging about some of the challenges that we were going through. And since he had more experience than some of us, he was very encouraging in guiding and telling you how to look at this and how to handle some of these challenges in life, health and otherwise," Uhuru said.

Uhuru recalled how Ireri encouraged him to fight on in the face of the struggles he had in the hospital.

With such counsel and encouragement, Uhuru suggested he came out stronger and continues to soldier on.

"I will miss that counsel, and I'll appreciate everything he guided some of us towards and how he really held our hand and told us, don't worry, things will come to pass, it will go. We trust in God, we believe, and the reason Frank is lying here is because it is his time. Those of us who have those challenges will continue fighting with them, but equally, when it is God's time, we shall join him and be thankful for the life that we lived and the times that we shared," he said.

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Uhuru disappeared from the public eye for almost four months last year. He was last seen in public in June 2024, and little to nothing would be heard from him.

Speculation went rife about his physical wellness, with some quarters suggesting he was hospitalised outside the country.

The rumours were put to rest in October the same year when he made his first public appearance, when he attended the 15th High-Level Retreat on the Promotion of Peace, Security, and Stability in Africa, convened in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire by the African Union (AU) Commission.

Since then, he often appeared in public functions, but seemingly in good state of health.