Jeff Koinange explains why he called Bob Collymore 'Kihara'

Piece by: Grace Kerongo
Exclusives

Jeff Koinange was the first to reveal that the late Safaricom CEO was very aware and haunted by his impending mortality.

He told Citizen TV,

"I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYONE PREPARED FOR DEATH LIKE I DID THIS MAN," JEFF SAID.

"We had known this [his death] was coming Bob had informed us. We knew he was not going to last very long, he had been told by his doctors not to make any long term plans," Jeff said.

ADDING, "INFACT HE WAS TOLD IF HE WAS GOING TO LIVE PAST JULY HE WAS LUCKY."

The Safaricom CEO passed away on Monday (July 1, 2019) at about 2 am in his home in Kitisuru.

In his tribute, Jeff Koinange remembered fondly, how his friendship with Bob Collymore began.

"I don’t have many people I would call my close friends. Bob ‘Kihara’ Collymore (I named him Kihara for his obvious Baldness) was one of my close friends.

Adding, "Bob and I would become instant friends. The fact that we were born six days and eight years apart (I’m a Jan 7th Baby, his was Jan 13th) made our bond even stronger. We shared many similarities but he was light-years ahead of me when it came to his humanity and his humility."

Here is his narration on how they first met.

We met in a funny way. He had accompanied then Safaricom CEO, Michael Joseph to one of my ‘Bench’ interviews back in 2009. I actually thought he was one of Michael’s Bodyguards and even told MJ how he had ‘upped’ his game by now having what looked like ‘Foreign Bodyguards’.

Michael laughed and made a comment that I can’t repeat in public. But seeing the ‘bodyguard’ taking a seat while MJ and I took to the BENCH, I asked the waiter at the restaurant to get him a coffee and whatever he needed while he waited.

After the interview (30-mins later), MJ now decided it was time for introductions. “Jeff, meet Bob Collymore. He works for Vodacom down in South Africa and he’s here for a few days.” We made our acquaintances and they departed soon after.

I didn’t think much of it until a few weeks later when MJ, in a press conference, was about to reveal the man who would succeed him as CEO of East and Central Africa’s biggest Telco. And low and behold, there stood the ‘bodyguard’ right next to him and then the announcement.

My jaw dropped and the only thing I could remember was that thank goodness I had ordered that coffee for him back then.