President Uhuru Shares Details of His Lengthy Meeting with Bob Collymore a Week before His Death

President Kenyatta says he had a lengthy conversation with the late Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore a week before his death.

Speaking during Collymore's memorial service at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi on Thursday, President Uhuru said he visited the deceased at his home on Monday last week.

Kenyatta went ahead to share details of his meeting with Collymore, which lasted the entire afternoon.

“He told me that he did not have more than a few weeks to go. So we spent a whole afternoon and I wondered why he was talking to me about Safaricom and not about himself," Kenyatta said.

He added: “But he said that he had accepted that his chapter is closed and what he wants to know is the future of this company. And we spent three, four hours talking about what he saw, his vision for the company, his dreams and what he thought I should be focused on. In terms of my own legacy, the focus on corruption, and we had a wonderful afternoon together. The only thing he said that I can do for him is taking care of Wambui and the kids.”

Kenyatta narrated how the 61-year-old reached out to him about three weeks ago while he was on a trip to Canada.

“On the second day I picked up his call and asked him, ‘Bob why are you calling me at 2 o’clock in the morning’ to which he responded: ‘I didn’t know you were traveling.’ I said ‘Yes I am, and it’s 2 o’clock in the morning so I will call you when I get back,” President Uhuru said.

"There are four things that Bob loved but the fourth I cannot say it here: Bob loved Kenya, he loved Safaricom as if it was his own..a part of his family and Bob loved his wife and his children, dearly…like I said the fourth one I won’t mention but some of you here know what it is,” Kenyatta added.

Collymore passed away at his Nairobi house on Monday after a long battle with cancer (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). He left behind a wife, Wambui Kamiru and four children.