Nasa financier Jimi Wanjigi: No longer untouchable
When police raided city billionaire Jimi Wanjigi’s homes in Nairobi, Mombasa and Malindi on Monday, it was a sign of how far the wheeler-dealer has fallen from the top echelons of power into the center of a political storm.
The Muthaiga, in Nairobi, raid came hours after police ransacked a villa in Malindi and confiscated five AK-47 rifles and 93 rounds of ammunition.
While some of the arrested workers alleged they were employees of Mr Wanjigi — an allegation we could not independently verify — police said the house on Ngowa Road at Mtangani, belongs to two Italians: Mr Franco Fantani and Mr Giovanni Ferliga.
TENDERPRENEUR
Mr Wanjigi, a tenderpreneur of presidents Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki, and the early years of the Uhuru regimes, is credited with being a key financier of Mr Raila Odinga’s Nasa and having played a key role in its campaigns as the funds mobiliser.
The raid came on a day Nasa leaders announced that they would start a nationwide series of rallies starting Tuesday, to mobilise their supporters not to participate in the October 26 presidential election.
It also came as Nasa accelerated its push to stop the poll unless there are electoral reforms.
MR FIX-IT
A well-known Mr Fix-it, Mr Wanjigi was once untouchable, thanks to his past links to the security apparatus and senior politicians, including the late former Vice President George Saitoti.
He is also believed to have brokered the deal between Mr Uhuru Kenyatta (TNA) and Mr William Ruto (URP) and the formation of the Jubilee administration.
He later fell out with both Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto — over what his friends say was the standard gauge railway tender, which the government decided to give to the Chinese Government and not to the companies lined up by Mr Wanjigi’s Tyl Limited.
A man who lives like a king at his 44 Muthaiga Road house, which is lined with splendid palm trees, signs of opulence and modern security system, Mr Wanjigi has of late been living under fear after he became the subject of attack by Jubilee politicians annoyed with his dalliance with the opposition.
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SOURCE: Daily Nation