A blow has befallen the country after the death of former Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet, Jeremiah Kiereini, was announced on Tuesday.
Following the tragic death, Kenyans.co.ke dug through its archives to unearth the life of the reclusive billionaire who tended to keep his life private.
According to his autobiography, A Daunting Journey, the beleaguered billionaire was one day, in the 1970s, so worked up that he threatened to shoot another tycoon for soiling former minister Charles Njonjo's name.
It all began when Kiereini joined some of the most powerful people of his time for a drink at a hotel in Nairobi. The then Commissioner of Police Bernard Hinga, Head of Criminal Investigations Department Ignatius Nderi and General Service Unit (GSU) Commander Ben Gethi were in attendance.
At the table that day, the conversation gravitated around Njonjo who had been castigated by Members of Parliament for holding a parcel of land in Surrey, England. The act was at the time considered unpatriotic.
Also in the meeting was Harun Muturi, J.M. Kariuki’s brother-in-law. Kiereini revealed that he felt obliged to defend Njonjo, a move that did not sit so well with Muturi, who turned to insulting the duo over their bromance.
Muturi claimed that Njonjo and Kiereini should be thrown out of the country.
“Thii ukere murumegwo Njonjo ninii ndoiga (Go tell your husband Njonjo, I'm the one who said so),” Muturi reportedly declared.
“I was so enraged at Muturi’s foul and vulgar insult that I decided I would shoot him. I went to my car in an overwhelming rage, to get my gun... I even considered shooting them all! But as I walked out into the fresh air... I came to my senses... went straight home and slept,” wrote Kiereini in his book.
The billionaire served as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence where he oversaw the modernisation of the military during the Jomo Kenyatta era.
Kiereini was so close to Charles Njonjo and their friendship flourished to a point that they invested in multiple companies including entities falling under the CfC Stanbic Holdings.
After leaving the public service, the tycoon went on to make a mark in the private industry by first acquiring a significant stake in Unga Group.
He was also appointed the chairman of CMC where he “started buying shares in CMC for myself, because they were rather inexpensive at the time.”
The former public service boss died at the age of 90.
