NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Joseph Nkaissery, Kenya's interior minister and a retired general, has died in a hospital a month before the African country's general election. He was 67.

Nkaissery died Saturday at a Nairobi hospital a few hours after being admitted for a check-up, according to Joseph Kinyua, who is President Uhuru Kenyatta's chief of staff. Kinyua said that Nkaissery died of natural causes.

Nkaissery dropped out of college and joined the military where he rose to the rank of general. He later became involved in politics.

The European Union observer mission has said there is concern that the election may spark violence. It has been a decade since more than 1,000 people died in post-election violence in Kenya.