When Citizen TV's Jeff Koinage first met the late Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore, he thought he was a bodyguard.
They met at Fairview Hotel where Jeff was hosting the then CEO Michael Joseph for an interview.
Michael brought along Collymore who at that time was working at Vodacom South Africa.
"One day he shows up and right behind him is this black bold guy in a nice crisp suit and he had something in his ear like an earpiece and I said to myself MJ has upped his security and he looked foreign.
"So I told MJ 'hey man what's up with the security, what's going on' and he laughed at me," Jeff narrated during an interview on Citizen TV.
As they walked to the bench where the interview was being conducted, Jeff told a nearby waiter, "Patia security kahawa pale (Serve that bodyguard a cup of coffee)."
After the interview, Michael Joseph introduced Bob to Jeff and told him that "He works for our Vodacom office in South Africa."
"Weeks later they make the announcement that MJ has done his 10 years and his successor is about to be named and he appeared on the screen. It was that 'bodyguard'" Jeff recalled.
They went on to become such good friends that the journalist was among Bob's close confidants.
Two days before he died, Jeff had visited Bob at his home alongside four others.
“On Saturday, I was having lunch with my mum and my sister and I asked them to give me an hour to go and see Bob. A group of 5 people, I included had known his death was coming. Bob had informed us,” Jeff revealed while speaking to fellow anchor Sam Gituku.
“I have never seen anyone prepare for death like Bob. He knew that he wasn’t gonna last very long as he had been told by his doctors not to make any long term plans. In fact, he was told if he makes it past July, he will be lucky,” a sorrowful Jeff spoke.
