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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 this name. Kibaki belongs to the largest Kenyan ethnic group, the Gĩkũyũ (22% of the population).

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. Kibaki was eager to join army after high school, but due to a ruling by Walter Coutts, the Chief colonial secretary, people from G.e.m.a communities were prevented from the British army.

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, obtaining a M.Sc. with distinction in Public Finance at the London School of Economics

KANU

After obtaining his masters, 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 Kenya's constitution. In the 1963 elections, he took the then Donholm constituency (subsequently called Bahati and now known as Makadara) in Nairobi. He has been a member of parliament (MP) ever since.

His election was the start of a long 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 he was re-elected to parliament, this time from his native Othaya constituency. The same year 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 in 1978, 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.

Multiparty politics

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.

Presidency

In preparation of the 2002 elections, Kibaki's Democratic Party affiliated with several other parties to form National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK). 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 ammunition.

In November 2004, in an ABC PrimeTime interview with the late 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 the year. The free education programme saw nearly 1.7 million more pupils enroll in school by the end of that year. Clinton's wish was granted when he visited Kenya in the summer of 2005 and finally met president Kibaki on July 22nd.

Constitutional referendum and dismissal of cabinet

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). 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 supported by Kibaki, the majority of 58% Kenyan voters rejected the draft.

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. Vice President Moody Awori retained his post, however, as did Minister of Home Affairs. The Cabinet was appointed, but some MPs were offered ministerships but did not take up posts .

New cabinet

On July 24, 2006 Narc-Kenya, a new political party set up by Kibaki allies won three out of five parliamentary seats. This indicated Kibaki's government had recovered from the defeat at the constitutional referendum.

Vision 2030, a scheme to raise annual GDP to 10% was unveiled by Kibaki on October 30, 2006 . In 2005, the Kenyan GDP grew by 5.8% with a projected growth of 7% in 2007, an increase from stagnant state preceding Kibaki's presidency.

On 15 November 2006 he reinstated Kiraitu Murungi as Energy minister, accused impeding investigations of corruption in the Anglo-Leasing scandal, and George Saitoti as Education minister, previously accused in the Goldenberg scandal.

2007 elections

Though President Kibaki has not categorically stated that he will run for the Presidential seat in the much anticipated 2007 General election, he is much touted to run for another 5 years. So far 3 Major parties have stated that he will be their presidential candidate of choice in the coming general election. The parties are DP, NARC and Narc-Kenya. In opinion polls from Steadman International released in October 2006, states that 41% of Kenyans would vote for Kibaki. His closest rival, Kalonzo Musyoka got 20% .

Private life

He is married to Lucy Kibaki (Lucy Muthoni), with whom he has one daughter, Judy Wanjiku, and three sons: Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai, and Tony Githinji.

In 2004 the media reported that Kibaki has a second spouse, Mary Wambui, and a common daughter, Wangui Mwai. Mary Wambui is said to be provided with state bodyguards and other VIP privileges. She is also a National Rainbow Coalition activist. After the news broke, the State House made an unsigned statement that Kubaki's only immediate family is his wife, Lucy and their four children.

Mwai Kibaki is known to be a keen golfer. He belongs to Roman Catholic church.

References

1. Kenya's entire cabinet dismissed BBC
2. KENYA: Year in Review 2005 - Searching for a constitution IRIN News
3. Kenya: Kibaki Launches Vision for Growth Kenya: Kibaki Launches Vision for Growth Daily Nation
4. Kibaki reinstates ministers after scandal] IOL
5. Survey shows Kibaki’s popularity on the rise The Standard
6. New Kenyan Soap Opera: The President's Two Wives Washington Post

External links

• Profile of President Mwai Kibaki
• Review of Mwai Kibaki: Economist for Kenya by Ng'ang'a Mbugua

v t e Heads of State of Kenya
Queen of Kenya	Elizabeth II (1963–1964)
President of Kenya	Jomo Kenyatta (1964–1978) Daniel arap Moi (1978–2002) Mwai Kibaki (2002–2013) Uhuru Kenyatta (2013–2022) William Ruto (2022–present)

• 1931 births
• Current national leaders
• Presidents of Kenya
• Economists
• Politics of Kenya
• Kenyan politicians
• Democracy activists
• Alumni of the London School of Economics
• Living people