Despite his highflying career, billionaire status and close proximity to power, Joe Wanjui kept elective politics at arm's length.
JB Wanjui — as he was popularly known — was a member of former President Mwai Kibaki's Kitchen Cabinet.
He equated politics to the unpredictable chaotic matatu sector that has an overrated reward system compared to the private sector.
The reward system for politics is overrated and the deserving never getting what is due, JB Wanjui believed.
Unlike the modern-day presidential advisers known for clout chasing, JB Wanjui remained media shy and held the cards close to his chest.
The former University of Nairobi chancellor and long running corporate titan died last week aged 87.
His family said he died "after a long illness privately fought".
In his book, The Native Son: Experiences of a Kenyan Entrepreneur published in 2014, JB Wanjui says the Narc 2003 victory fall out is a classic case of the matatu behaviour.
He says opposition leader Raila Odinga did the heavy lifting for Kibaki in 2002 campaigns but did not get a reward matching his sweat.
The mishandling of his discontent planted the seed for the instability that the country is dealing with.
President Kibaki had the capacity to implement the famous MoU between him and Raila and should have made him prime minister without executive powers just to forestall any fallout.
“I can vouch for the fact that Raila Odinga was the most energetic campaigner for Kibaki in the 2002 campaigns,” JB Wanjui writes.
The fights among the coalition partners that saw Kibaki and Raila part ways, "all boiled down to trust— or rather lack of it".
Had the Narc government remained stable and intact, the country would have been more stable decades later, he says.
Economy would be soaring and millions would have been lifted from poverty.
“I’m no politician, but the ethos of the private sector in which I have worked provides for rewards —or compensation, if you like— commensurate with the work done,” JB Wanjui says.
Kibaki diehards said the constitution at the time could not allow creation of the post of prime minister.
That is why he (JB Wanjui) led frantic reconciliation drive between Kibaki and Raila blocs before the breach could become irreversible.
“Long before the breach became final, there were many meetings held in an apartment in Nairobi’s Lower Hill when serious efforts were made to patch up the differences and restore relationship. Everything from the alleged MoU to the prime ministerial position was put on the table,” JB Wanjui says in his book.
To his old age, the American educated billionaire believed democracy is the best bet for governing a cohesive society.
“With time, Kenyans will fully begin to realise that oppression does not equate to order, liberty to chaos. The give and take of democracy is always messy. Yet in the end, it is the most liberating factor of all,” he says.
The businessman resented being viewed as part of the "Mount Kenya mafia" who did gatekeeping at State House during Kibaki's time.
His frosty relationship with anti-corruption campaigner John Githongo dates back to when he worked with Githongo’s father at Transparency International.
JB Wanjui recommended Githongo’s hiring into the Kibaki government, but their father-son relationship later diminished and he would regret ever holding Githongo’s hand.
In the book, he expresses disappointment about Githongo’s recording of conversations of top State House officials and leaking it to the BBC, before fleeing the country.
“I can imagine the raw personal feeling of betrayal of those who found out that they had been surreptitiously taped by John,” JB Wanjui says.
“In retrospect, I cannot honestly say my role in recommending his appointment to government was one of my proudest moments.”
JB Wanjui attended Mang’u High School in the late 1950s and got a chance to join Makerere University.
He, however, declined the offer and opted to join Ohio Wesleyan University is the US after getting a full tuition scholarship.
Here, JB Wanjui earned his BA before applying to Ohio University to study electrical engineering.
He later joined Columbia University and graduated with a masters of science degree.
Upon graduating in 1964, JB Wanjui worked for an oil company, ESSO Corporation. At 27, the Jomo Kenyatta government appointed him the head of Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC).
ICDC, a finance institution at the National Treasury, is the place astute businessmen such as Chris Kirubi began their journey to billions.
It is here that he channelled hundreds of taxpayers' money into commercial ventures. He also entered shareholding arrangements with Western companies.
It is during his time in America that he met his wife Mukami Githii. She attended Loreto School in Limuru.
Their love blossomed and they got married in 1962, giving birth to their first-born twin girls— Nyathira and Wanjiru in 1963.
Back in Kenya, the family settled for an upper middle-class life.
JB Wanjui worked at Exxon Mobil while his wife got a teaching job at Pangani Girls. They were later blessed with two more girls, Wairimu and Muthoni.
As they grew the social and economic ladder, their marital relationship became tensed and they divorced in 1972.
“At some point, the relationship began to get frayed. Neither Elizabeth nor I found it easy to put a finger on what exactly went wrong. Was it pressure from our careers, combined with that of the new life we had suddenly been thrust into? Or was it our own ambition and fear of failure? I don’t know,” he says.
He later married Anne Kiarie and had two children but remained close to his first wife until her death in 1998.