City billionaire sets social media alight with fatal motor accident

Nairobi businessman Joel Kamau Kibe, who fired up social media following his involvement in an incident on Monday morning, is a powerful but covert operator in top class investment and political circles.

Mr Kibe, who was expected in court yesterday but did not appear, got himself in trouble when he rammed into a security barrier in Nairobi’s upmarket Runda Estate, killing a guard.

His appearance in court aborted after he was allowed to seek medical care for a few days, according to his lawyer, Cliff Ombeta.

Mr Ombeta said his client had fractured two ribs in the accident that badly damaged the white Range Rover Vogue he has been driving since 2012 when he was appointed the chairman of motor dealer CMC Holdings.

The businessman later relinquished the chairmanship and remained a director of the company after it was taken over by Dubai-based Al-Futtaim Group.

Mr Kibe, who speaks bluntly, is not new to controversy and the latest case is expected to put his pocketbook and political network to test.

It is not the first time Mr Kibe has been involved in a road accident having crashed his Toyota Lexus along Kiambu Road in July 2007, causing it to be written off. The vehicle had been comprehensively insured for Sh6.6 million.

Mr Kibe subsequently raised a claim with the insurer but the two parties disagreed over the settlement, prompting the businessman to sue the Kenyan Alliance Insurance Company.

The Nairobi High Court ruled in favour of Mr Kibe in 2009, ordering the insurer to pay him Sh6.5 million being less the excess fee of Sh100,000.

In Mr Ombeta, the businessman has a skilled lawyer who has specialised in high profile criminal cases, including that of the controversial Mombasa-based Akasha family.

While the decision ultimately lies with the courts, Mr Kibe’s comments moments after the accident have drawn public opprobrium.
The businessman’s latest involvement in an accident, though tragic, would perhaps have passed quietly had it not been for the video footage that captured him speaking at the scene.

Mr Kibe is shown in the video making comments in Swahili to the effect that his car had been damaged and so everyone involved had suffered.

Many viewers of the footage wondered in social media whether the businessman made the remarks with the full knowledge of what had transpired.

A friend of Mr Kibe’s, who did not want to be quoted, said he was probably not in full control of his senses in the wake of what had happened.

Mr Kibe was heading to his home in Runda Estate where he has lived for many years.

Well, the matter has now gone before court, turning attention as to how vigorous the businessman will defend himself.

The youthful businessman, in his early 40s, is said to be a billionaire in his own right removing money from the list of challenges he faces.

He and his business associate, Paul Wanderi Ndung’u, pocketed a combined Sh1.7 billion from the sale of CMC to Al-Futtaim alone.

While other CMC directors had to resign in the buyout, Mr Kibe and Mr Ndung’u have continued to serve as directors in the motor firm.

This has fuelled speculation that the duo has residual interests in the company or they struck some special agreement with Al-Futtaim as part of the buyout deal.

READ: CMC director in group of 7,000 owners bought out in forced exit

Mr Kibe is currently an executive director of Mobicom, Telkom Kenya’s main dealer while Mr Ndung’u is the major shareholder and chairman of Mobicom, which was previously Safaricom’s main dealer before switching to Telkom in 2010.

Mr Kibe has also made significant investments at the Nairobi bourse, holding sizeable stakes in firms like National Bank of Kenya (NBK) and Olympia Capital.

Besides, the businessman runs a major electronics shop in Nairobi’s CBD alongside his siblings, trading in brands like Yamaha that are popular with churches and live performance bands.

Like most other city businessmen, Mr Kibe also has friends in high places. He is known to most Central Kenya politicians, including President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family, Othaya MP Mary Wambui and Murang’a governor Mwangi wa Iria.

Most tellingly, Mr Kibe has represented Mr Kenyatta in fundraising events in his rural Kandara village.

A quick tempered man, Mr Kibe has been instrumental in fighting battles faced by his partners. The most famous of these was the CMC boardroom wars that saw him and Mr Ndung’u team up with former Attorney- General Charles Njonjo to take on fellow shareholders Peter Muthoka and Jeremiah Kiereini who had served as chairmen of the company at different times.

The fallout was so bad that both sides reportedly beefed up their personal security during the tumultuous period and Mr Kiereini does not speak to Mr Kibe to this day.

At the peak of the boardroom war, the Kibe camp had accused Mr Muthoka and Mr Kiereini of unfairly enriching themselves through their dealings with CMC, but the charges were either withdrawn or dismissed by the courts.

Mr Kibe, however, managed to organise the ouster of both Mr Kiereini and Mr Muthoka from the CMC board, eventually rising to become the company’s chairman on March 12, 2012.

As fate would have it, Mr Kibe was also replaced as chairman by Al-Futtaim appointee Leonard Hunt in May 2014, but remained as a director. He did not like the decision and failed to attend that board meeting after he became aware of its agenda.

To him, the move had a tinge of disrespect. While his opponents see him as brash and arrogant, the rank and file employees at his businesses say he is a benevolent boss.

In the wake of the accident, most journalists have reported that he has either switched off his phone or failed to answer calls.

That is a departure from his usual ready-to-comment stance , but completely understandable given the magnitude of the Monday incident.