Jolly. Allan Gerald Kanyike a celebrated retired businessman turned socialite around many Kampala bars died on Thursday evening at Nsambya Hospital. Kanyike has been someone who could smell any great vibe around anywhere and he would automatically make his presence felt, living larger than life like
a seventeen-year-old.
For lovers of live band music in Kampala, the nights wouldn’t be fully blazing if they didn’t spot Mzee Kanyike was at the forefront doing his signature dance lockings and breakings that he would perform from when the show starts till the end. He knew how to give himself total happiness and satisfaction that would automatically be commensurate to the watchers. He was once featured in a music video “Gudi Gudde” by
the duo of Radio and Weasel with Khalifah Aganaga.
In 2012, Mzee Kanyike came back to Uganda from the United Kingdom where he had lived for over 30 years with his family. He boasted triumphant real estate management of some 40 properties for Queen Bridge Management in London. After spending most of his life in England, Kanyike`s accent could be likened to historical playwright
William Shakespeare and so was his dress code.
At the time of his death, Kanyike who died aged 58 years has been managing a one IH Grand
Logistics Limited, a customs clearing firm in Ntinda which he has been a director as well.
Full Profile: Late Socialite Kanyike`s Life Highlights
In all his media interviews, Kanyike was open to letting it be known that he married from a historical stock, making him even more connected to the nation. “I am privileged to have a father-in-law called George Kakoma, who composed the National Anthem” he once told a reporter. He has been a father to six children, grandfather to 11 children and he has been a great grandfather too. “What do I lose to retire? I have got all I need. My wives are British citizens. I set them up. I got them
jobs.
They gave birth to wonderful children. Let me enjoy my retirement in the Pearl of Africa. I love my country so much. I am one of the top socialites in Uganda. Wherever I go, people get excited. I am a happy person,” he happily revealed earlier in March.
Kanyike started school at HH Aga Khan in Nyari, Mombasa.
From there, he joined St Henry’s College Kitovu, where he is proud to have schooled with the current premier (Katikkiro) of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga. The Saba Saba war led people like him to go to exile in Nairobi where he and his family lived for six years, from the early 1980s. He attended Griffins College in Nairobi, where he did the Association of Business Executive (ABE). When things settled down, he returned back home with his family and settled
in Ntinda where his family has lived ever since.
