Political and business wheeler-dealer Jimi Wanjigi announced few months ago that he would seek the ODM's ticket to run for the Presidency in 2022 general election.
Wanjigi, 58, is best known for being the key political strategist for Raila Odinga's botched 2017 presidential bid and the quiet force behind Uhuru Kenyatta's 2013 election victory.
However, Wanjigi's dalliance with politics, according to Wikipedia sources, started in 1992 during Kenya's first multi-party elections, where at a relatively young age, he got involved in Kenneth Matiba's election campaign.
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| Jimi Wanjigi |
Wanjigi remained actively in politics behind the scenes during the years to come while maintaining a close friendship with the former vice president George Saitoti until his death in June 2012.
Following the death of Professor Saitoti in 2012, Jimmy moved his support to Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto for the presidency during the 2013 Kenyan general election.
He is said to have played a pivotal role in brokering the alliance between Ruto's United Republican Party (Kenya) and Kenyatta's The National Alliance (TNA) in 2012, leading to a joint ticket under what is now the Jubilee Party.
He reportedly brokered the peace between Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta in the aftermath of the 2013 Kenyan general election, Wikipedia adds.
In 2017, he shifted his political support to Raila Odinga, causing a public fall out between Wanjigi and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
This led to severe backlash against Wanjigi from the state including a travel blockade, a dramatic three days assault by the Kenyan police on his Muthaiga home and politically motivated charges being brought against him and his octogenarian father.
The charges were eventually thrown out by the courts.The Kwacha Group of Companies CEO and a son to former Cabinet Minister Maina Wanjigi, is an alumnus of St. Mary's School where his schoolmates included Uhuru Kenyatta and Gideon Moi.
Wanjigi is also reported to have studied business at York University from 1982 - 1986 before returning to Kenya to pursue a career in agri-business, financial services, industrials and real estate.
The married father of two children who reportedly study at Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland, was on Sunday interviewed by Citizen TV's Linus Kaikai on an array of issues ranging from his source of wealth, political schemings to his 2022 presidential ambitions.
Here is all that Wanjigi said during the lengthy interview dubbed #JimyWanjigiUnveiled on Twitter.