A high stakes courtroom battle has erupted at the Coast, pitting two of Mombasa’s wealthiest businessmen, Mohamed Jaffer and Abubakar Abu Joho, in a bitter war over power, money, and reputation.
Abu Joho, elder brother to former Mombasa Governor and current Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho, has accused Jaffer of masterminding a malicious online smear campaign through his personal assistant Matilda Kinzani to destroy his reputation and cripple his family business.
The rivalry between the two magnates goes back decades, fueled by fierce competition in port logistics and fertiliser trading, industries that generate billions each year.
Abu, who runs Autoport Container Freight Services Ltd, says Jaffer has long treated the Mombasa port like his personal empire, using influence and wealth to suppress competitors and dominate the logistics sector.
“Jaffer is my business rival. We compete in fertiliser and port rail services, but this is not healthy competition, especially when it targets my family,” Abu told the court.
According to court testimony, Abu alleges that Jaffer, the billionaire owner of Grain Bulk Handlers Ltd, the only company licensed to handle mechanical bulk grain imports at the Port of Mombasa, orchestrated an online defamation campaign through Kinzani to smear him as a drug dealer and land grabber.
The defamatory material, Abu said, surfaced during the Gen Z protests, when social tension was high. He claims the posts not only endangered his family’s safety but also damaged his long-standing business relationships.
“You cannot parade me on the internet and destroy my family’s reputation simply because of business rivalry,” he said.
“Accusations that I hide drugs in rice or that my company stole land are malicious and damaging.”
Court filings show that Kinzani, who serves as Jaffer’s personal assistant, has been charged with four counts under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act. The police investigation traced the defamatory letters and online posts directly to her.
Abu told the court that he was first alerted by a friend, Railways Managing Director Philip Kainga, who informed him that a defamatory letter was being circulated widely online.
He says this is not the first time such attacks have happened, describing them as part of a twenty year campaign to undermine his name and his company’s growing dominance at the port.
“My family has suffered for years from these lies. My daughter once asked me, Daddy, are we eating halal food? I told her yes. Then she asked, Why are people writing bad things about us online? That broke me,” he recounted emotionally.
Despite the ongoing case, Abu maintains that he harbors no personal grudge against Kinzani, saying, “If I saw her today, I would hug her.”
But his message to Jaffer was clear. The days of unchecked dominance at the Mombasa Port are over.
Industry insiders say the case exposes the toxic power politics behind the Mombasa logistics industry, where monopolies, political networks, and state contracts often blur the line between fair competition and corporate warfare.
Jaffer, long regarded as one of Kenya’s most influential tycoons with direct access to top political figures, now faces growing scrutiny over how far he is willing to go to protect his empire.
For Abu Joho, the court case is not just about clearing his name, it is about challenging the grip of old money and power that has defined Mombasa’s business scene for decades.
