Former First Lady Lucy Muthoni Kibaki died from a heart ailment, medics who attended to her at a local hospital before she was flown to London said.

Sources said Mrs Kibaki, who died on Tuesday at the Bupa Cromwell Hospital in London, had been flown to the United Kingdom to be fitted with a permanent pacemaker, a device used to regulate abnormal heart rhythms.

At rest, most adults have a heart rate of between 60-100 beats per minute depending on their fitness levels, but Mrs Kibaki’s is said to have dropped to about 30.

The former First Lady’s daughter, Judy, and son, Anthony, were at her bedside when she died at about 4 a.m. Tuesday, family sources said.

News of Mrs Kibaki’s death was made public through a Press statement from President Uhuru Kenyatta sent to newsrooms at about 11 am.

Former President Mwai Kibaki’s spokesman Ngare Gituku followed with a statement promising keep the country informed as further arrangements concerning the matter evolve.

“Not much is coming from London but people are putting their heads together because of the enormity of the task ahead,” he said.

Mrs Kibaki, who was the First Lady between 2002 and 2013 had been ailing since early March and was hospitalised locally before being transferred to London for specialised treatment.

Initially, reports indicated Mrs Kibaki was admitted at the Nairobi Hospital in the Intensive Care Unit on March 11, 2016 after she fell ill.

Dr Gituku, however, allayed fears that she was in ICU and described her stay in hospital as a routine check-up, underlining the strict confidence in which Mrs Kibaki’s health condition was held.

Ten days later, Judy said the former First Lady was responding well to treatment.

On Tuesday, it emerged that even though the first call informing the family of Mrs Kibaki’s death came in at 7 am, it had to wait for President Kenyatta to break the news at 11.38 am in line with protocol regarding a former First Lady.

“It was only fair because the State was directly involved that we leave it to them to make the announcement. There was a sense of protocol to be considered,” said a family source.