By Prudence Minayo
Emilio Mwai Kibaki was the third president of the Republic of Kenya from December 2002 to April 2013. During the late former president Daniel Arap Moi’s reign, he served as a vice president for 10 years, from 1978 to 1988. He also served in different ministerial portfolios in the Moi and founding father Jomo Kenyatta regimes.
Background
Kibaki was born in 1931 in Thunguri village, Othaya constituency to Teresia Wanjiku and Kibaki Githinji who were peasants. He attended Mang’u High School before proceeding to Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda where he graduated with a First Class Honors Degree in BA Economics. He then went to London School of Business before going back to Makerere University as an assistant lecturer.
Political Career Summary
1963: he was elected Member of Parliament for Donholm constituency, Nairobi.
1963: he was appointed the Permanent Secretary for the Treasury.
1966: Minister of Commerce and Industry.
1969: Minister of Finance and Economic Planning
1974: Elected Member of Parliament for Othaya Constituency, a seat he retained in 1979, 1983, 1988, 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007. He was also in the Time magazine list of top 100 people in the world with the ability to lead.
1978: Moi became the second president of the republic of Kenya and made Mwai Kibaki his Vice President.
1988: Demoted to the Ministry of Health.
December 1991: Resigned from the ruling party KANU.
1992: Vied for the presidency under his then party, Democratic Party (DP). Moi retained the seat as he came third.
1997: vied for presidency but lost to Moi by coming in second.
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While preparing for the 2002 elections, a number of parties including Mwai’s DP joined together to form the National Rainbow Coalition Party (NARC). After Raila Odinga declared Kibaki Tosha (loosely translated: Kibaki is able), he was nominated the NARC presidential candidate in October 2002 at Uhuru Park. In December, he was involved in an accident while going back to Nairobi after a campaign meeting and sustained serious injuries that affected his walking. On 27th December 2002, NARC won and Kibaki became the third president of the republic of Kenya.
On 29th December 2002, while sitting on a wheelchair Mwai Kibaki was sworn in as the president of Kenya.
Presidential rule
Kibaki was very different from the previous presidents. He was more of a democrat and did not have his pictures on Kenyan currency (save for the rare 40 shilling coin) or schools and places named after him.
In 2003, he introduced Free Primary Education, a great feat in the Kenyan education sector that saw many children get an opportunity to attend primary school unlike before.
In the 2007 general elections, he ran for presidency under the newly formed Party of National Unity (PNU) with his main contender for the seat being Raila Odinga. According to opinion polls, Kibaki was behind Raila nationally except in Central, Embu and Meru. A lot of irregularities occurred in the elections and Kibaki was announced the winner and sworn in one hour after the announcement. This led to disaffection from Raila Supporters resulting into the unprecedented post election violence that nearly brought Kenya to its knees. The violence escalated with looting and killings spreading in many parts of the country.
The acrimonious election was probed by the Independent Review Commission (IRC) and the findings laid bare the incompetence by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), malpractice including bribery, vote buying and intimidation.
A mediating team led by former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan saw the violence coming to an end with a power sharing agreement between Kibaki and Raila where Raila became the prime minister of Kenya.
Family
Mwai Kibaki married Lucy Muthoni in 1961 and together they were blessed with four children: Jimmy Kibaki, Judy Wanjiku, David Kagai and Tony Githinji.
In 2004, it was reported that he had another wife Mary Wambui whom he had married under customary law. A statement was released denying the reports and he re-affirmed the same in a press conference in 2009. The drama with the other woman caused Lucy to have a few embarrassing public outbursts.
In 2016, Lucy Muthoni passed away.
Property Owned By Mwai Kibaki
The former president owned the 14 floor Union Towers which he sold to Mount Kenya University for a mouthwatering kes800 million. He also owns a 10,000 acre ranch in Nakuru. In 2016, he was selling half the land at kes11 million per acre. From this land deal, the retired president would have pocketed billions which would have been used to finance “gated community with more than 800 homes, a shopping complex, schools and other social amenities,” Mr Geoffrey Ndung’u who was familiar with the project said.
According to wikileaks the former Head of State owns the following parcels of land:
Gingalily farm-1,200 acres along Nakuru-Solai road
Bahati in Nakuru-10,000 acres
Igwamiti in Laikipia-10,000 acres
Rumuruti in Naivasha-10,000 acres
Ruare Ranch-1,600 acres
The Kibaki family reportedly owns about 30,000 acres of land.
Kibaki has a multi million house along Nyeri-Nyahururu road which was built as his retirement home. The house which looks like a mini state house is perched on a high point providing sweeping views of Mt. Kenya and Aberdare range. The 100 acre plot is next to Mweiga airstrip and not easily noticeable. He also has a beautiful luxurious home in Muthaiga and other properties and cars.
Kibaki Pension and Perk
His average pay per month is kes2.86 million which includes perks and pension for the former president. That translates to kes34.43 million per year.
Kibaki net worth
Mwai Kibaki net worth is estimated at kes20 billion.
Death
The former President Mwai Kibaki died on 22 April.
