Billionaire businessman Jeremiah Kiereini dies aged 90

Jeremiah Kiereini who died today aged 90.

Billionaire businessman Jeremiah Kiereini is dead.

Sources close to his family say Kiereini died last evening aged 90.

He served as former chairperson of the East African Breweries Limited (EABL) and The Cooper Motor Corporation (CMC). He was also former head of Civil Service.  

Before his death, Kiereini authored a memoir ‘A Daunting Journey’ published in 2014. 

He was born in 1929 in Kibichio, Central Kenya, schooled in Alliance Boys’ and later at Makerere University in Uganda.

After Makerere, he was employed by the Indian High Commission in the 1950s. He later joined the colonial Civil Service at the height of the Mau Mau uprising.

He would rise through the ranks to be the head of the Civil Service in the 1980s.

Tragedy hit the Kiereini family in April 2017 when the body of his son Githae Kiereini, who was aged 43,was found in his house at Karen.

The body was discovered in his two-room apartment in Karen. The state of the body was such that pathologists could not determine when he died.

It was discovered by a house help who went to his apartment located on Nandi Road. She became suspicious because Githae had not been picking phone calls for a while. Githae lived alone in the apartment.

Pathologists who conducted a postmortem at Lee Funeral Home said the results were inconclusive and they had to take body samples for further analysis.

Condolence message

President Uhuru Kenyatta has sent a condolence message and encouragement to the family, friends and relatives of former Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Jeremiah Gitau Kiereini. 

In his message, the President described the late Kiereini as a towering reform-minded public servant and patriotic Kenyan who served his country with distinction.

President Uhuru said the late Kiereini remains an important part of Kenya's public service history because of his many achievements key among them being the role he played in the modernization of the Kenyan military when he served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence.

“Mr. Kereini was a polished patriot and loyal Kenyan who served this country with dedication as a public servant for over 30 years rising through the ranks to the position of Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet,” said the President.

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