Mwai Kibaki

Mwai Kibaki
(baptized Emilio Stanley)

Order 3rd President of Kenya
President from December 30, 2002 –
Vice President
Preceded by Daniel arap Moi
Succeeded by Incumbent
Born November 15, 1931
Gatuyaini, Othaya division, Nyeri district
Died
Political party National Rainbow Coalition
Spouse {{{spouse}}}
Signature [[Image:{{{signature}}}|128px]]

Mwai Kibaki (born November 15, 1931) is Kenya's third president, an economist, and a political leader. He was baptised Emilio Stanley by Italian missionaries in his youth but he rarely uses those names. Kibaki belongs to the largest Kenyan ethnic group, the Gĩkũyũ (22% of the population).

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Early life

Born at Gatuyaini Village in Othaya division of Nyeri district, Kibaki was the youngest son of peasants Kibaki Githinji and Teresia Wanjiku (both now deceased). He was educated at Gatuyaini School (two years), Karima Mission School (three years), Mathari Boarding Primary School (between 1944 and 1946). He studied at Mang'u High School between 1947 and 1950 and obtained the maximum possible score in his high school terminal examinations.

He studied Economics, History and Political Science at Makerere University College, Kampala, Uganda. During his studies, he was chairman of the Kenya Students' Association. In 1955, he graduated as best student of his class, and was therefore awarded a scholarship to undertake further studies in the United Kingdom.

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KANU

After obtaining a B.Sc. with distinction in Public Finance at the London School of Economics, he became economics lecturer at Makerere. In early 1960 however, he gave up his job to become executive officer of KANU. He helped to draft the constitution of Kenya. In the 1963 elections, he took the then Donholm constituency (subsequently called Bahati and now known as Makadara). He has been a member of parliament (MP) ever since.

His election was the start of a remarkable political career. Appointed Assistant Minister of Finance and chairman of the Economic Planning Commission in 1963, he was promoted to Minister of Commerce and Industry in 1966. In 1969, he became Minister of Finance. In 1974 Time magazine rated him among the top 100 people in the world who had the potential to lead.

When Daniel arap Moi succeeded Jomo Kenyatta as President of Kenya, Kibaki was elevated to the Vice Presidency, but was allowed to keep the Finance portfolio, which he exchanged for that of Home Affairs in 1982. Kibaki fell out of favour with President Moi in 1988, and was dropped as Vice President and moved to the Ministry of Health.

In December 1991, only days after the repeal of Section 2A of the constitution, which restored the multiparty system, Mwai Kibaki left KANU and founded the Democratic Party (DP). He came third in the presidential elections of 1992, and was second in the 1997 elections.

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NARC

In preparation of the 2002 elections, NAK allied itself with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). On December 27, 2002, NARC won a landslide victory over KANU. Kibaki got 62% of the votes in the presidential elections, against only 31% for the KANU candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta. On December 30, 2002, Mwai Kibaki was sworn in as the third President of Kenya.

Kibaki's first cabinet was a careful balancing act with one Minister, or Assistant Minister, coming from each of Kenya's forty-two areas. His Presidential style is very 'hands-off', unlike his predecessor who attempted to control everything from the centre. While Kibaki's style has the benefit of allowing his Ministers the freedom to manage their departments and introduce much needed reforms, he has been unwilling to give any public lead in the fight against corruption. To date, no senior figures have appeared in court on corruption charges, despite numerous investigations and no shortage of either targets or amunition.

In November 2004, in an ABC PrimeTime interview with Peter Jennings, former US President Bill Clinton identified Kibaki as the one living person he would most like to meet "because of the Kenyan government's decision to abolish school fees for primary education". Clinton added that, by providing free and compulsory primary education, what Kibaki had done would affect more lives than any president had done or would ever do by the end of this year. The free education programme that has seen nearly 1.7 million more pupils enroll in school.

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2005 dismissal of cabinet

In 2005 numerous allegations of corruption dogged the president, elected on an anti-corruption ticket. His anti-corruption czar, John Githongo, abruptly resigned after some very specific charges regarding the Anglo Leasing scam were leaked to British ambassador Edward Clay, who criticised the Attorney General for failing to act.

The 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum was held on November 21, 2005.

The main issues of contention throughout the drafting of the constitution were over how much power should be vested in the Head of State (the President, in this case), with many believing Kibaki was attempting to garner dictatorial powers. In previous drafts, those who feared a concentration of power in the president added provisions for European-style power-sharing between the President and Prime Minister. However, the final draft of the constitution retained sweeping powers for the Head of State.

Though strongly supported by Kibaki, the majority of Kenya's citizens rejected it.

In consequence, Kibaki made a historic and decisive political move on November 23, 2005 by dismissing his entire cabinet in the middle of his administration's term. About his decision Kibaki said, “Following the results of the Referendum, it has become necessary for me, as the President of the Republic, to re-organise my Government to make it more cohesive and better able to serve the people of Kenya".

Although the dismissal of individual officials is commonplace in government, the dissolution of the cabinet in its entirety is rare. The only member of the cabinet office to be spared a midterm exit was that of the Attorney General whose position is constitutionally protected against Kibaki's presidential powers. Vice President Moody Awori retained his post, however, as Minister of Home Affairs. The dismissal of the cabinet follows a seven month period in which its members never actually formally met, preferring to play political games with one another through the media. As stated above, corruption charges and investigations into the affairs of the cabinet had gone undisciplined by the president, who had been criticised for not reeling in his officials.

Kibaki has pledged to appoint a new cabinet within two weeks, until then he will be managing all of the nation's affairs single-handedly [1]. The Cabinet was appointed, but some MPS were offered ministerships but did not take up posts.

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Private life

He is married to Lucy Kibaki, with whom he has one daughter, Judy Wanjiku, and three sons: Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai, and Tony Githinji. Kibaki is also reported to have a second spouse, Mary Wambui, with whom he has a daughter. Though officially the State House has denied Wambui status as his wife, she is provided all the trappings of a presidential spouse including armed bodyguards & limousines. Mary Wambui is also a National Rainbow Coalition activist.


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See also

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External links


Preceded by:
Daniel arap Moi 		President of Kenya
2002–Present 		Succeeded by:
incumbent