Reformist president’s rule was tarnished by corruption, cronysim and violence
Mwai Kibaki, who has died aged 90, brought an end to decades of oneparty rule when he was elected president of Kenya in 2002, only to have his promises to end government corruption undermined by accusations of graft and by violence surrounding his reelection bid.
Kibaki was the last Kenyan president who was part of the generation that led the country from British colonial rule to independence in 1963. He helped draft its first constitution and was an early member of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party, which dominated Kenyan political life for 39 years.
He was elected to
Kenya’s first parliament under independence and held several government posts, each more powerful than the last, over the next 25 years. An economist and former professor, he became minister of finance and economic planning in 1970 under Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta.
After Kenyatta’s death in 1978, his vicepresident, Daniel arap Moi, assumed the presidency and chose Kibaki as vicepresident. Moi followed Kenyatta’s pattern of increasingly authoritarian rule, selfenrichment and widespread corruption, amid widespread poverty, poor education and a shoddy health system.
Kibaki began to break with Moi in the early 1980s, and was demoted to health minister. In that role, he led efforts to reduce the spread of HIV/Aids by launching education efforts and treatment programmes.
In the meantime, international companies and lending organisations began to demand reform in a country that had become a corrupt one-party state. Late in 1991, opposition parties were legalised, and soon Kibaki left his government post to launch the new Democratic Party. He challenged Moi for the presidency in 1992 and 1997, losing both times in elections rife with voting irregularities.
In 2002, with Moi unable to stand because of term limits, Kibaki ran as leader of a new party called the National Rainbow Coalition. He pledged free primary education and universal health care. Moreover, he vowed to end the widespread bribery and corruption that affected every level of Kenyan life.
On December 3, 2002, a little more than three weeks before the election, Kibaki was injured in a car accident and was flown to London for treatment – highlighting the need for improved medical services in Kenya. When he returned after 10 days, he campaigned from a wheelchair.
Jubilation broke out across the country when he won 63% of the vote. At first, he made good on his campaign rhetoric by improving access to education and launching efforts to curb corruption in the courts. He also sought to reform the country’s banking system.
Kibaki was swept into office by support from a multi-ethnic coalition, not just members of his own Kikuyu people, Kenya’s largest ethnic group. But tribalism remained a strong element of politics, and he surrounded himself with a close-knit cadre of Kikuyus, whose traditional homeland was near Mt Kenya. His inner circle became known as the Mt Kenya Mafia, and in short order Kibaki faced criticism for the same cronyism and kickbacks he had decried in his predecessors.
He became one of Kenya’s wealthiest people and was embarrassed by revelations that, in addition to his wife and four children, he had a second family with another woman.
In 2005, his top anti-corruption watchdog, John Githongo, resigned, saying he faced death threats and had been thwarted in his attempts to investigate government officials.
Kenyans quickly became disillusioned with Kibaki’s leadership, and in 2007 he faced a strong challenge from Raila Odinga. Kibaki was declared winner of the election, but European Union observers said the results ‘‘lacked credibility’’ and suffered from ‘‘a lack of transparency’’. Violence erupted, in which more than 1100 people were killed.
In 2008, a power-sharing deal was brokered in which Kibaki would stay on as president with Odinga as prime minister. Kibaki resigned in 2013, but not before receiving a generous retirement package that allowed him to live in luxury in his Nairobi apartment and at his country estate.
Mwai Emilio Stanley Kibaki was born in a village near Mt Kenya to parents who were tobacco and cattle farmers. He won a scholarship to Makerere University in Uganda, where many future African leaders were educated. He graduated in 1955, then received a degree in economics and public finance from the London School of Economics in 1958. During that time, one of his brothers was killed while fighting in a revolutionary guerrilla movement in Kenya.
Kibaki taught at Makerere for several years and became active in Kenya’s growing independence movement. He also helped organise the KANU, which propelled Kenyatta to power.
In 1962, he married Lucy Muthoni, who died in 2016. They had four children. He also had a long relationship with Mary Wambui, with whom he had a daughter. It is unclear whether they were married, in a country where polygamy is legal. – Washington Post