The late Mwai Kibaki was born on 15/11/1931, in Gatuyaini village, Othaya division, Nyeri county.
Mwai Kibaki, who served as Kenya’s third president from 2003 to 2013, has died aged 90, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Friday.
Kibaki is credited with reviving Kenya’s then ailing economy, but his tenure was marred by deadly violence that erupted following his disputed re-election in December 2007.
Kenyatta ordered a mourning period to honor mwai Kibaki, during which flags will be flown at half-mast.
Mwai Kibaki was the third president of the Republic of Kenya from 2002 to 2013, preceded by Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and second president Daniel Arap Moi. his baptismal name is Emilio Stanley.
Mwai Kibaki studied economics, history and political science at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
As a student at Makerere University, Kibaki was chairman of the Kenya Students’ Association. when he graduated in 1955 he was awarded for excellence in examinations.
The award enabled him to study at the London School of Economics. When he graduated he went to teach at Makerere University. he later quit his teaching job and became the chief executive of the Kenya African National Union.
Kibaki, despite being an MP, has served as Deputy Minister of Finance, Chairman of the Planning Commission, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of Finance. When moi came to power after the death of Jomo Kenyatta, Kibaki was appointed Vice President.
In 1988 Kibaki began to clash with President Moi. That year he was stripped of his vice presidency and sent to the Ministry of Health.
In 1991 Kibaki left KANU and formed the Democratic Party. In the 1991 presidential election, Kibaki was third and in 1997 second.
British-educated economist, Kibaki’s unflappable demeanour concealed political guile that finally propelled him to the presidency after four decades as lawmaker, government minister and then vice president to his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi.
His landslide win in 2002 upset Moi’s handpicked successor. Kibaki, in a wheelchair and a leg cast after a car crash, promised his ecstatic inauguration crowd a clean break from Moi’s autocratic quarter-century rule.
The honeymoon did not last long, and cracks soon appeared in NARC, an alliance of parties opposed to Moi.
Raila Odinga, one of NARC’s leaders, accused Kibaki of violating a secret, pre-election pact that guaranteed Odinga would become prime minister.
Instead, Kibaki appointed Odinga minister for roads, angering his base and sowing the seeds for a bitter showdown between the two that was to spill into violence at the next election in 2007, causing the deaths of 1,250 people.
Kibaki also angered voters by failing to tackle widespread corruption, and his ministers embraced the same corrupt businessmen who had flourished under Moi.
British High Commissioner Edward Clay memorably summed up donors’ view of government graft in a 2004 speech: “Their gluttony causes them to vomit all over our shoes.”
But his disputed 2007 re-election tarnished his legacy.
Opposition leader Odinga was ahead by several hundred thousand votes when the electoral commission abruptly stopped announcing the results and ejected journalists. Hours later, the commission announced Kibaki had won by a narrow margin and he was hurriedly sworn in.
Most election observers said the elections were flawed. Odinga called for protests, sparking a deadly police crackdown. Ethnic violence flared in Nairobi’s slums, the Rift Valley highlands and the lakeside city of Kisumu. Families were burned alive in a church.
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan finally brokered a peace deal between Kibaki and Odinga. The two formed a grand coalition government, with Odinga as prime minister.
The coalition survived five years of squabbling, enacting a new constitution in 2010 that devolved some powers from the presidency to the counties, part of an effort to end the nation’s winner-take-all elections.
The son of a tobacco trader, Kibaki grew up amid lush tea and coffee fields near Mount Kenya in the central highlands. He attended Kampala’s Makerere University before becoming the first African to earn a first-class degree from the London School of Economics.
He returned to Makerere as an economics lecturer in 1958 during a wave of African independence movements. When Kenya became independent, he was elected to parliament and became an aide to founding President Jomo Kenyatta. Two years later, he was appointed commerce and industry minister.
He served as finance minister for 13 years under both Kenyatta and Moi, and as Moi’s vice president for some of that time, until Moi moved him to lesser ministries during a spat that eventually pushed Kibaki into the opposition in 1992.
The December 28, 2007 election brought Kibaki back for a second term as president. This election was contested by the opposition party, ODM, and international observers that the results did not represent the wishes of Kenyans. his main rival, Raila Odinga, was at the forefront of vote counting until the Electoral Commission suspended counting; after continuing the announcements Kibaki appeared to be in front.
Kibaki was among Kenya’s richest men, overseeing vast land holdings and business interests.
When he handed over power to his successor, Uhuru Kenyatta, in 2013, Kibaki retreated to his home in one of Nairobi’s plushest neighbourhoods, close to his beloved Muthaiga golf club. He is survived by several children and grandchildren.
May God rest his soul in peace and prosperity.
