Pacific, First Re bet on insider to replace Kabage

“With the rich experience in insurance and reinsurance coupled with the proven leadership, the board is confident that Ms Karita will steer the group towards the realisation of its vision and to continuously deliver consistent service,” said the statement issued yesterday.

Ms Karita, who at one point served as a group managing director at the two companies, as well as an independent director of First Reinsurance. She has served as examination secretary at the Institute of Insurance and sits in several committees at the College of Insurance.

The new chairperson has vast experience in insurance business spanning 33 years during which she worked with Kenya Re and was Kenya’s first woman to be admitted as a Fellow in Reinsurance.

Ms Karita fills the void left vacant by Mr Kabage, a corporate titan and politician who died aged 70 after suffering a heart attack while driving to his Karen home along the Southern bypass in Nairobi.

Mr Kabage was a businessman with vast interests in the insurance sector that saw him sit on several corporate boards locally and at one time serve as chairman of the Africa Reinsurance Corporation.

Before his death, Mr Kabage served as a director at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, National Social Security Fund, Labour Advisory Board and Energy Regulatory Authority Commission, among others.

He had earlier served as the first chairman of the Communications Commission of Kenya (now Communications Authority of Kenya) between 1999 and 2002 and was a past chairman of umbrella employers’ lobby-Federation of Kenya Employers, Kenya Business Council, and Kenya Private Sector Alliance.

Ms Karita is a Daystar University Bachelors of Commerce graduate.

She also possesses a Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology master’s degree in Business Management (Strategic Management).

Ms Karita is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London.