Politician Jimi Wanjigi.
Depending on who you ask, James Richard Wanjigi could be a wealthy wheeler-dealer, a politician that dared contest the presidency, a gun runner or an activist.
In the last three presidencies, the man known as Jimi Wanjigi has been given these titles by politicians.
Save for his attempt to run for the presidency and his life membership at the Safina Party, there is no evidence to warrant the other tags.
The man police are working hard to arrest for “financing anti-government protests and turning them chaotic”, has cut an enigmatic image for years.
Mr Wanjigi denies claims of financing the Gen Z demos.
On October 16, 2017, police officers conducted operations in the Malindi and Nairobi homes of Mr Wanjigi. Police said they suspected the businessman of working with other people to import guns.
At the time, the political wheeler-dealer was being associated with opposition National Super Alliance leader Raila Odinga.
Seven guns
In 2019, Mr Wanjigi won big when the High Court ordered the return of his seven guns, saying there was no proof of abuse of the weapons nor had he been charged with any offence.
Mr Wanjigi led a quiet life before the operation. There were no images of the businessman in the public domain.
Before May 6, 2016 – the morning after businessman Jacob Juma was shot dead – one of the few images of Mr Wanjigi was a photo taken when he was just 11.
Two pictures were taken that day. The first proper image of the man in a decade was of him standing next to Mr Odinga viewing Juma’s body at a mortuary.
For power watchers, Mr Wanjigi’s presence meant Juma was close to him. The only other time he was spotted in public was when Interior minister George Saitoti died in a helicopter crash.
An event in 2005 thrust Mr Wanjigi in the limelight. In November that year, The Standard paper published a large full-colour image of the businessman smiling.
He had ivory and gold-framed spectacles. It was at the wedding of then-presidential press service director Isaiah Kabira.
Elsewhere, his presence would be felt across government agencies. He had been behind some of the biggest deals the previous decade. Once in a while, his name and dealings would pop in unexpected records.
In August 2017, aviation company Lady Lori sued Wanjigi and his firms – Tyl Ltd and Kwacha Group of Companies – over two-year-old Sh16.5 million debts that accrued for servicing his helicopter and providing a hangar whenever the aircraft was not in use.
Among the pieces of evidence filed were travel logs that made no secret of Mr Wanjigi’s dalliance, and possibly financial support, of Mr Odinga.
Election campaigns
In one instance during election campaigns in December 2016, the helicopter registered as 5Y-JWJ took off from Mr Odinga’s Karen home and landed in his rural residence in Bondo, Siaya County. It made rounds in Kisumu before returning to Nairobi.
Mr Wanjigi’s interaction with power and politics began in infancy.
His father Maina Wanjigi was a senior civil servant at independence. The senior Wanjigi joined politics in 1969 when his son was seven years old.
At only 38, the elder Wanjigi was one of the most learned people in President Jomo Kenyatta’s circle.
A former student of Alliance High School, Makerere University and Stanford University, his political career spanned two and a half decades, covering several ministries.
Like most men of his generation, the senior Wanjigi created many investment vehicles. At the apex of these companies was one holding firm – the Kwacha Group of Companies.
With a political career and a growing fortune, he could afford to take his children to some of the best schools in Kenya.
At St Mary’s, young Jimi and his siblings had the children of the president, vice-president and other top government and private sector officials as schoolmates.
Jimi Wanjigi is former president Uhuru Kenyatta and former first son Jimmy Kibaki’s age-mate. The three attended the prestigious St Mary’s School or “Saints”.
Unlike the sons of the top politicians, who eventually sought to succeed their fathers in power, Jimi Wanjigi had different ambitions.
Anyone you talk to about Mr Wanjigi in Nairobi will say he is self-made. That is until you get to the “tough” questions. The answers are in whispers.
According to the Kwacha Group website, the company is run largely by the elder Wanjigi, who died on June 28 at the age of 92.
Those in the know say the power behind the throne is Jimi.
Mr Wanjigi has found himself in many government deals since Mr Mwai Kibaki’s presidency. Strangely, his name is almost always missing in official records.
By 2003, Mr Wanjigi was a seasoned wheeler-dealer with connections all the way to Statehouse.
During the Kibaki administration, the second chapter of the Anglo Leasing mess – a procurement scandal instigated by Daniel arap Moi’s ministers – came into focus.
US diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks say Mr Wanjigi was at the centre of the mess.
According to the cables, the dossier by then-Ethics and Governance Permanent Secretary John Githongo implicated Mr Wanjigi and a network that included Dr Chris Murungaru, Mr Alfred Getonga, Mr Deepak Kamani and Mr Anura Perera.
The cables say Mr Wanjigi was the local broker, channelling contracts and payments as the bogus procurements were consummated.
Threatened
The leaked cables say Mr Githongo fled into exile after being threatened.
The diplomatic cables quote Mr Githongo as saying he believed Mr Wanjigi was behind the death threats.
Mr Githongo and Wanjigi schooled at St Mary’s, according to sources familiar with the two families.
Mr Githongo’s father, Joe Githongo, was a wealthy accountant who counted the president among his clients.
In the William Ruto administration, Mr Wanjigi appears to be a marked man, going by the events of Thursday night when police raided his house.
It was a night of terror for the Wanjigis as electricity was disconnected to facilitate easy access by police. Security cameras were disabled.
In the wee hours of Friday, another team of hooded men – believed to be police officers – arrived and conducted a fresh search at the home.
When Mr Wanjigi surfaced that evening, his message to President Ruto was simple: “Uhuru tried and failed.”
“Seven years ago, you looked for me in this house, you didn’t fine me. Yesterday, you looked for me in this very house and never found me,” he said.
Mr Wanjigi has since obtained a High Court order blocking his arrest, pending the determination of a petition he filed.
