Mwai Kibaki | president of Kenya | Britannica.com president of Kenya Alternative Title: Emilio Mwai Kibaki Mwai Kibaki Mwai Kibaki, in full Emilio Mwai Kibaki (born November 15, 1931, Gatuyaini, Kenya), Kenyan politician who served as president of Kenya (2002–13). Mwai Kibaki, 2003. Susan Sterner/The White House Kibaki, a member of the Kikuyu people, attended Makerere University (B.A., 1955) in Uganda and the London School of Economics (B.Sc., 1959). He then worked as a teacher before becoming active in the Kenyan struggle for independence from Great Britain. After Kenya became independent in 1963, he won a seat in the National Assembly as a member of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party.

He later served as minister of finance (1969–82) and vice president (1978–88) but increasingly found himself at odds with President Daniel arap Moi , who headed KANU. In 1991 Kibaki resigned his membership in KANU to form the Democratic Party. Kibaki unsuccessfully challenged Moi in the presidential elections of 1992 and 1997, though in 1998 he became the official head of the opposition. With Moi constitutionally barred from seeking another presidential term, Kibaki sought the presidency for a third time. In September 2002 he helped create the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), a multiparty alliance that nominated Kibaki as its presidential candidate. A few weeks before the election, Kibaki was involved in a car accident and suffered serious injuries. Although he was confined to a wheelchair, he continued his campaign and easily defeated Moi’s chosen successor, Uhuru Kenyatta (a son of Jomo Kenyatta , Kenya’s first president). In parliamentary elections NARC routed the ruling KANU, which had dominated Kenya since the country’s independence.

As president, Kibaki pledged to eliminate the government corruption that had ruined the country’s economy and had resulted in the withdrawal of foreign aid. Although he established anticorruption courts, his attempts to pass anticorruption bills were largely unsuccessful. In 2003 legislators voted themselves large raises, which they said would discourage bribe taking. The move, however, was met with public criticism . Kibaki’s government also suffered from power struggles among the ruling coalition’s various constituent parties. This tension increased as lawmakers struggled to draft a new constitution, which Kibaki had promised during his campaign. Disagreements concerning reforms, especially the creation of a prime ministership, further divided NARC and delayed enactment of a new constitution, leading to public unrest. Members of his administration were mired in corruption in 2005, which further fueled public discontent. A new constitution, backed by Kibaki, was finally put to referendum in November 2005, but it was rejected by voters; the rejection was viewed by many as a public indictment of Kibaki’s administration.

Britannica Stories Scientists Ponder Menopause in Killer Whales In preparation for the December 2007 elections, Kibaki formed a new coalition, the Party of National Unity (PNU), which, surprisingly, included KANU. Several candidates stood in the presidential election, which was one of the closest in Kenya’s history and boasted a record-high voter turnout. After a delay in the release of the final election results, Kibaki was declared the winner, narrowly defeating Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). Odinga immediately disputed the outcome, and international observers questioned the validity of the final results. Widespread protests ensued throughout the country and degenerated into horrific acts of violence involving some of Kenya’s many ethnic groups, most notable of which were the Kikuyu (Kibaki’s group) and the Luo (Odinga’s group); both groups were victims as well as perpetrators. More than 1,000 people were killed and more than 600,000 were displaced in the election’s violent aftermath as efforts to resolve the political impasse between Kibaki and Odinga were not immediately successful.

On February 28, 2008, Kibaki and Odinga signed a power-sharing plan brokered by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and Jakaya Kikwete, president of Tanzania and chairman of the African Union . The plan called for the formation of a coalition government between PNU and ODM and the creation of several new positions, with Kibaki to remain president and Odinga to hold the newly created post of prime minister. Despite the agreement, however, conflict persisted over the distribution of posts. After several weeks of talks, the allocation of cabinet positions between PNU and ODM members was settled, and on April 13, 2008, Kibaki named a coalition government in which he retained the presidency. The coalition, however, was often fraught with tension. Profile: Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki | World news | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close Mwai Kibaki has kept a low profile during the violence that has swept Kenya since his disputed presidential re-election.

In what his critics will see as a belated move to contain the crisis that has claimed more than 300 lives, Kibaki today invited all members of the new opposition-dominated parliament to a meeting. Kibaki's silence is in keeping with his low-key style. During the election campaign, the 76-year-old tried to cultivate a populist image, attending rallies in flowery, casual shirts and mingling with the people for advertisements. But commentators describe him as uncharismatic. Kibaki has been a fixture in Kenyan politics for almost five decades. A founder of the Kenya African National Union (Kanu) in 1960, he won the first election he contested. He advanced quickly as an MP thanks to his background in economics, becoming the minister of commerce and industry after two years in parliament. In 1978, when Daniel arap Moi took over the presidency after the death of Jomo Kenyatta, Kibaki became the vice-president and held various ministerial posts, including finance and economic planning, home affairs and health. He left Kanu to form the Democratic party in 1990 and came third in the 1992 presidential election.

In the 1997 elections he ran second to Moi, and he was finally sworn in as Kenya's third president in December 2002. He enjoyed huge support in those 2002 elections, which ended 24 years of autocratic rule by Moi. Although Kibaki helped to improve the economy and civil service, his decision to remain loyal to political veterans - many with dubious records or from his own Kikuyu ethnic group - rather than bring in new blood counted against him. Kibaki had formed a coalition with Raila Odinga in 2002, but they fell out when Odinga campaigned against Kibaki's new constitution three years later. The constitution, which would have granted the president more power, was defeated in a national referendum. Odinga went on to form his own party and challenged Kibaki in last Saturday's presidential vote. By the time of the 2005 referendum, the euphoria that had greeted Kibaki's election had worn off.

High-level corruption scandals that went unpunished and the resignation of his anti-corruption chief, John Githongo, damaged his reputation, as did the view that the country's economic growth had only benefited the middle class. He did fulfil his promise to provide free primary education, but that has been a mixed blessing. Classes are often overflowing and teachers are paid late if at all. One of Kenya's richest men, with vast land holdings and business interests, Kibaki insists his wealth comes from shrewdness and hard work rather than corruption. Kenya is still ranked as one of the world's corrupt countries by international watchdogs. Born on November 15 1931, Kibaki was baptised Emilio Stanley by Italian missionaries, a name for which he seemingly has little taste, rarely using it. He is a well-educated man, having studied history and political science for a BA at Makerere University college in Kampala, Uganda. After graduating top of his class in 1955, he went to London on a scholarship and took a BSc in public finance at the London School of Economics in 1959. He returned to Makerere to lecture, but then retired from academia and went into politics.

His reputation as a politician now very much depends on how he handles the present crisis. BBC NEWS | Africa | Kibaki: Dream or nightmare? Kibaki: Dream or nightmare? By Juliet Njeri BBC News, Nairobi Mwai Kibaki's re-inauguration as Kenya's president could not be more different from the upbeat and hopeful mood of his 2002 landslide victory. Back then, the country was awash with optimism as his coalition ended the unpopular 24-year rule of Daniel arap Moi. President Kibaki's first election win was greeted with elation But when Mr Kibaki was sworn in for a second time in a hasty ceremony at the end of 2007, violence erupted across the country. The bitterness of victory is something that Mr Kibaki, a political veteran with service under previous governments, has had five years to become accustomed to. In 2002, his fairy-tale government was under enormous pressure to deliver on campaign promises: ending endemic corruption, rejuvenating the country's stalled economy and delivering a new constitution. The public elation soon turned into frustration as the "National Rainbow Coalition dream" slowly turned into a nightmare.

Internal rifts fuelled by a failed power-sharing pact and personal ambitions proved to be the coalition's undoing. Bruising defeat It all started when President Kibaki declined to honour a gentlemen's agreement, popularly referred to as the memorandum of understanding (MoU), on the power-sharing structure in the new government. Constitutional reform plans were stopped by the opposition His former opposition comrades, led by Raila Odinga, accused him of betrayal and although they remained in government, they made it clear that they were no longer the president's men. But the real test for the coalition came in 2005, when his former allies campaigned against the government during the constitutional referendum. Mr Odinga and other leaders went around the country urging the people to vote against the government, and their victory at the referendum gave birth to a new opposition movement: the Orange Democratic Movement. Following a bruising defeat, President Kibaki sacked the ministers who opposed the government, in a move interpreted as his boldest decision since ascending to power. Five years after he was elected on a platform of reform, Mr Kibaki's critics say he has not delivered on the lofty campaign promises.

Under pressure Odinga: Kenya's king-maker His close allies have been implicated in multi-million dollar scandals, such as the infamous Anglo-leasing deal. President Kibaki's confidants - the then Finance Minister David Mwiraria and his counterpart in Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Kiraitu Murungi - were forced to resign after being implicated in the deal. Yet the two were reinstated to the cabinet even before investigations into the scandal were complete. This perceived failure to take action has lost Mr Kibaki considerable goodwill. Democratic space President Kibaki's laid-back management style has also come in for criticism. Some argue that his ministers have resorted to making unilateral decisions that have been very unpopular. For instance a government decision to support the extradition of terrorism suspects to Ethiopia and later to US detention camp in Guantanamo bay in Cuba has left a bitter taste among Kenyan Muslims: a key voting block. On the other hand, his supporters say his tolerance to dissenting opinions, even within his own cabinet, has opened up democratic space. Business boost Before the elections, opinion polls suggested he might lose to Mr Odinga, the man who made him king.

And in a bizarre twist, the Kanu party which Mr Kibaki defeated in 2002, joined his Party of National Unity. Mr Moi (r) now backs Mr Kibaki Both Mr Moi and Mr Kenyatta, who was Kanu's defeated candidate, backed their former nemesis. But despite this, even President Kibaki's strongest critics do not deny that his administration has breathed some life into the economy. National income grew by 6% in 2006. President Kibaki is also being credited for improving the business environment for local investors. The introduction of universal free primary education has endeared him to the poor, and he has promised the same for secondary schools. But it is not clear how the government will pay for this. Already, the quality of primary education has dropped due to the lack of teachers and facilities to match the demand. Catch-up As expected, ethnicity affected voting patterns, and President Kibaki got support in Central province, home to his Kikuyu people: the country's largest grouping. Supporters praise President Kibaki for bringing democracy His challenge, political analysts say, will be to consolidate the PNU coalition, a new alliance of parties formed only in September.

His opponents say Mr Kibaki, aged 75, should step down and allow a younger leader to take over. Despite health problems threatening to cloud his tenure in office, President Kibaki now appears robust and has maintained a gruelling pace at campaign meetings. With his re-election, he has become Kenya's longest-serving MP, having first been elected in 1963. Despite all the deflated hopes, the veteran campaigner has staged a surprise comeback. Africa: Kenya's 2002 Elections: Ten Lessons - allAfrica.com Africa: Kenya's 2002 Elections: Ten Lessons opinion By Chinua Akukwe The swift and peaceful transition of power on December 30, 2002 made every Kenyan, African, and lover of peace, extremely happy. President Mwai Kibaki and his National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) trounced the ruling party, KANU, in the presidential, parliamentary and civic elections. The people of Kenya have spoken and their choice heard around the world. The resounding victory of the opposition over the ruling party has multiple lessons for fledgling democracies around the world, especially in Africa. I briefly discuss ten such lessons.

Era of big man is over. Ex-president Moi is among the last breed of big men in politics and government in Africa. I do not believe that Moi knew what hit him in this election. Kenyans, like most people everywhere, are now tired of omnipotent leadership. Kenyans decided that it is no longer necessary to catch cold whenever their leader sneezes or to sing a daily lullaby to their leader. Power of incumbency is overblown. Most Africans know that the power of incumbency in the continent is tied closely to the ability to manipulate and rig elections. Once that route is foreclosed, most incumbent governments in Africa may not survive the majesty of the ballot box. KANU was no exception. Few people can make a difference. Margaret Mead famously stated that "never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world." The leadership of NARC put their career on the line to challenge a powerful and well-entrenched ruling party. Of all these NARC leaders, Raila Odinga emerges as the hero of the silent and peaceful revolution that swept away the ruling party.

By daring to challenge the powerful interests that had ruled Kenya for 39 years and foregoing his own presidential ambition, Raila Odinga has shown that a single individual and a few good men and women can make the impossible dramatically possible. Wananchi (ordinary people) are no fools. Politicians since independence in early 1960s in many parts of Africa have perfected a simple approach to governance: play up ethnicity; divide and conquer opposition groups; display paraphernalia of office to bedazzle citizens, and; sprinkle token sums of money during elections. Wananchi simply said no in Kenya and may have rewritten the play book of African politics. In the parliamentary elections of Kenya, many politicians lost their deposit after spending huge sums of "democracy dividends" on prospective voters, according to press reports. A KANU politician, who reportedly completed an electricity project within a month prior to the elections, also lost heavily. Election-only politicians are now in trouble. This election clearly shows that fly-by-the-night politicians are now an endangered species. For every politician in Kenya today, the voters have sent a clear message: if we see or hear from you only during electioneering campaigns, we will retire you prematurely.

Tribal jingoists need to go back to the drawing board. This is one of the most important lessons from this election in a society that is heavily tribalized. Ex-vice president Musa Mudavadi lost his parliamentary seat despite the rosy promises of a continued vice-presidential slot for his tribe. The choice of Mwai Kibaki by NARC as the consensus candidate for presidency effectively put paid to the strategic choice of Uhuru Kenyatta, a fellow Kikuyi. Corruption has finally become a dirty word. KANU over the years became synonymous with corruption, and voters decided that enough is enough. One of the most interesting spectacles during the months leading to the election was the scramble by politicians to abandon the KANU platform. For the first time in my memory, politicians in Africa (here, Kenya) struggled to outdo each other in denouncing corruption and its destructive effects. Being a stooge or seen as one is a kiss of political death. Uhuru Kenyatta simply had no chance in the presidential election because he was widely perceived to be a stooge of powerful interests in the former ruling party, KANU.

Despite an admirable campaign and valiant denials of not being a stooge, Uhuru could not escape the political coal tar of his backers. The upside to this situation is that every young politician in the future will think twice before accepting to be the "anointed" one in a reviled government. Citizens can take back their government. The people of Kenya have sent a clear message to the long-suffering masses in many parts of Africa: you can take back your government. The political earthquake in Kenya has revalidated the majesty of the ballot box and reinvigorated the power of political choices. Any African country that is still flirting with pseudo-one-party states or president-for-life strategies is in for a rude awakening. The gale of voter power is on an unstoppable march in Africa. The armies of organized opposition parties, local civil society organizations, independent print and electronic media and international election observers are steadily perfecting strategies that will allow citizens to take back their governments in Africa. Change can be peaceful. Perhaps this is the most remarkable lesson from the 2002 Kenyan elections. Peaceful change of government from an entrenched ruling party to a spirited opposition is now possible, without military, religious or international community intervention.

In this regard, everybody must commend Ex-president Moi for his speedy, graceful and peaceful transfer of power to the new government. Conclusion In conclusion, I will give an unsolicited advice to President Kibaki, who finally became president on the third attempt: the problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible and indulgent use - of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public. These are the immortal words of Robert F. Kennedy. The people of Kenya have spoken. The ball is now in President Kibaki's court. Dr. Chinua Akukwe (cakukwe@att.net) is a member of the Board of Directors of the Constituency for Africa (CFA), Washington, DC, and a former Vice Chairman of the National Council for International Health (NCIH), Washington, DC, now known as the Global Health Council. Copyright © 2003 Addis Tribune. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 800 reports a day from more than 140 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica . To address comments or complaints, please Contact us . Mwai Kibaki biography, birth date, birth place and pictures Email Print Mwai Kibaki, also known as Emilio Mwai Kibaki born December 8, 1931 in Nyeri, Kenya is a Kenyan Politician, economist and the current President of Kenya. Economist and politician Mwai Kibaki in 2002 became the third president of independent Kenya, ending 24 years of Daniel Arap Moi's rule, and breaking the hegemonic grip over national politics that the Kenya African National Union (KANU) had maintained since Kenya won its independence from Britain in 1963.

As in other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that have, for the first time since independence, recently witnessed a handover of power through the ballot box, the elections were hailed as a historical landmark, a "second liberation." Also in common with these countries, however, the return to multiparty democracy has not borne the fruits of its promise. Under Kibaki, euphoria gave way to disillusionment as governmental corruption appeared as intractable as ever, jobs were scarce, and 20 million of the country's 30 million continued to live below the poverty line of one dollar per day in East Africa's largest economy. Called by New African's Tom Mbakwe "one of the eternal faces of Kenyan politics," Kibaki has played a role in government uninterrupted since independence, rising up the ranks to prominence--before falling out with his predecessor in the 1980s, founding his own party, and resolutely launching three bids for the presidency. He was re-elected in 2007 amid accusations of fraud. Kibaki, the youngest of eight children, was born on November 15, 1931, to tobacco and cattle farmers Kibaki Githinji and Teresia Wanjiku.

The family, members of Kenya's largest single tribal group, the Kikuyu, lived in Gatuyaini Village near Mount Kenya--homeland of the Kikuyu and Kenya's highest mountain and the second highest in Africa. Kibaki attended three primary schools and received his secondary education at one of Kenya's best schools, Man'gu High School, where his academic performance earned him a scholarship at Uganda's Makerere University to read economics, history, and political science. At Makerere--a prestigious institution where a significant number of those who were to play key roles in post-independence Africa were educated--Kibaki thrived. He graduated in 1955 with first class honors, and was chairman of the Kenya Students Association, and vice chairman of the Makerere Students Guild. On graduation, Kibaki accepted a job as assistant sales manager with Shell's Uganda division, but very quickly left when he was awarded a scholarship to study at the London School of Economics. Equipped with a distinction in economics and public finance, Kibaki returned to Makerere in 1958 to take up a post as assistant economics lecturer.

Four Decades in the Kenyan Government During a visit to Kenya, while he was still teaching, Kibaki helped to draft what was to become independent Kenya's first constitution--a process which according to Kibaki and others involved took just a few hours at a Nairobi bar. Kibaki left Makerere and returned to Kenya in 1960, serving as executive officer for two years in KANU, the largest Kenyan political party at the time. Kibaki left this role the same year that he married Lucy Muthoni, a pastor's daughter, with whom he was to have four children. In 1963, when Kenya won its independence, KANU, led by Jomo Kenyatta, took the helm of government and Kibaki was elected Member of Parliament. He served in Kenyatta's government in a number of positions before being made minister of finance and economic planning in 1970. On Kenyatta's death in 1978, Moi became president and appointed Kibaki as his vice-president. Under Moi, vibrant debate became stifled, culminating in a constitutional amendment in 1982 which made KANU the only legal political party.

Moi and Kibaki fell out over the 1988 elections which consolidated Kenya as a one party state, and the president demoted Kibaki, granting him the ministry of health portfolio. Kibaki resigned from KANU in December 1991, days after the one-party state stipulation in the constitution was repealed, to found the Democratic Party (DP) on Christmas Day and launch a bid for the presidency. Despite a nominal return to multi-party democracy, Moi retained his tenacious grip on power, winning the vote in 1992 and 1997 through rigged elections marred by violence and bloodshed. Kibaki ran both times, placing third in 1992 and second in 1997. Kibaki presided over the forging together of fifteen disparate groups to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) that would run against KANU in the 2002 elections. In the months before the elections several prominent KANU members defected to NARC due, in large part, to Moi's obstinate insistence that Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya's first post-independence president, be the presidential candidate.

Kibaki's campaign centered on four central pledges: a crackdown on corruption, rapid economic growth and the creation of 500 000 jobs, constitutional reform, and free primary education for all. With these promises, Kibaki tapped into the thirst for change, and in elections largely free from violence, was swept to victory on a wave of euphoria, winning 62.2% of the vote. Three days later, on December 30, 2002, Kibaki was inaugurated--still in a wheelchair due to a car accident he had suffered on the campaign trail. The atmosphere was jubilant, chaotic, and hopeful; people were singing a NARC campaigning slogan, "Everything is possible without Moi." Indeed, when Moi arrived, his convoy was pelted with mud and his faltering speech was booed and jeered throughout. Kibaki, on the other hand, delivered from his wheelchair, what, according to New African journalist Wanjohi Kabukuru, was one of the best speeches given in the East African region.

Promising to "lead this nation out of the present wilderness and malaise onto the promised land" through "responsive, transparent and innovative leadership" and announcing that "the era of 'anything goes' [was] gone forever", the speech was stirring and did little to temper the enormity of the expectations of the Kenyan electorate. From the Wilderness to the Promised Land? The first move of the new government was to initiate the free primary education policy just one week after Kibaki took office. Moi had bequeathed a foundering economy isolated from the international community. Citing endemic corruption, the IMF had, apart from a few months in 2000, frozen its funding to Kenya since 1997, and other bilateral and multilateral donors had consequently done the same. Kibaki's pledge to turn the economy around meant restoring investor confidence and encouraging the resumption of international aid--and so was intimately linked to his pledge to crack down on corruption. Towards the end of 2003, international donors resumed aid and lending, citing Kibaki's tough stance on corruption and judicial reform.

In the first two months of Kibaki's rule, the equivalent of $198 million stolen from public coffers was recovered. Investigations led to the suspension of a number of judges and magistrates accused of bribery and related offences. Kibaki's government opened an inquiry into the notorious Goldenberg Affair--a high-profile scandal in the early 1990s involving non-existent companies, fabricated claims, and central bank payments of billions of dollars for fake export credits for gold and diamond. It was this investigation in particular that was meant to convey the message that the top echelons of Kenyan government would no longer be able to plunder the state with impunity. Despite early signs of improvement, however, high-level sleaze, corruption, and mistrust continued to characterize the economic and political landscape during Kibaki's presidency. In a move that was perceived by many as proof of his commitment to stamp out corruption, Kibaki had appointed John Githongo as chief anti-corruption investigator.

Less than two years later, however, in 2004, Githongo announced his resignation during a trip to the United Kingdom, days after the British High Commissioner had caused a diplomatic storm accusing Kenyan government officials of "eating like gluttons" and "vomiting on the shoes of foreign donors," as quoted by Neil Ford writing for African Business. Githongo claimed that he had been prevented from investigating the activities of high-ranking officials in Kibaki's government, and in a dossier he had prepared, exposed the Anglo-Leasing scandal, which revolved around a $20 million passport computer system, and led to the resignation of a number of Kibaki's ministers and to the suspension of some money flows from the United States and Germany. As part of an effort to reduce Kenya's reliance on multilateral and Western donors, Kibaki's government intensified economic co-operation with China and the Asian Tigers. Perhaps more crucially, it, with Tanzania and Uganda, has sought to move forward with the establishment and institutionalization of the East African Federation, which would entail economic integration and the creation of a single market.

Troubled Leadership Constitutional reform, one of Kibaki's central electoral pledges, was seen by many as essential to the consolidation of democracy. The process of drawing up a new constitution exacerbated and brought to the fore deep frictions and fissures within Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition. Disagreements were particularly acrimonious when it came to the issue of how much power would be concentrated in the president. The final draft was put to a national referendum. According to critics and opponents of this draft--amongst whom were a quarter of Kibaki's cabinet--it did not place sufficient limits on the president's extensive powers. In a country where a third of the adult population are illiterate, fruits were used to represent the opposing camps. Kibaki's yes campaign used a banana, and the no campaign, an orange. After weeks of incendiary and sometimes violent campaigning, on November 21, 2005, the orange camp carried the day with 57 percent of the vote. Kibaki's immediate response to his humiliating defeat was to sack his entire cabinet, running the country for a fortnight with his vice-president, attorney general and permanent secretaries constituting his only team.

After drawing up a new sympathetic cabinet, Kibaki was plunged further into crisis when several of the people he had named turned down their appointments. Tribal affiliations and loyalties, thought to have become less politically significant since the end of the Moi-era, clearly played out in voting patterns; most dramatically, in the Kikuyu Mount Kenya region, the yes campaign took 92% of the vote. For a number of commentators, however, the results of the constitutional referendum are better understood as an indictment of Kibaki's rule. In the words of Magesha Ngwiri, opinion editor of Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper, the vote was "a countrywide protest against the fact that he seems to have retreated into some laager of his own creation." It will be in the 2007 elections--which Kibaki announced that he would contest in January 2007--that Kibaki's popularity with the Kenyan electorate will be more accurately gauged. Whilst Moi's rule was characterized by his adept political maneuverings which played ethnic differences off against one another, Kibaki's hands-off approach has not incited ethnic tensions.

Accusations, however, that Kibaki, himself a Kikuyu, has fallen under the influence of a clique of Kikuyu politicians dubbed the "Mount Kenya mafia," have stirred up fears of domination by the Kikuyu, who constituting just over a fifth of the Kenyan population, are the country's largest ethnic group. The principally Kikuyu based Mau Mau rebellion--in which Kibaki's brother fought and died--was a key part of Kenya's path to independence. Rather than celebrate it, however, independent Kenya has shied away from official commemoration for fear that it would have divisive and disruptive consequences in a multiethnic state. Kibaki has sought to reverse this trend, so that this bloody chapter in Kenya's struggle for independence can be officially remembered. Elected on a mandate to eliminate corruption, transform the economy, and implement constitutional reform, Kibaki has, despite presiding over increased economic growth rates and an expansion of the democratic space, spectacularly failed to bring about dramatic change. In 2007, Kenya's election authorities declared Kibaki the winner of the December 27 presidential elections.

He was sworn in for another term an hour after he was declared the winner, despite his challenger, Raila Odinga, having claimed that Kibaki had stolen the election. Days later, election monitors from the European Union said Kibaki's re-election "lacked credibility" because of "a lack of transparency in the processing and tallying of the presidential results." On February 28, 2008, Kibaki and Odinga signed a power-sharing agreement. Observers hoped the agreement would end ethnic violence that resulted in more than 1,000 deaths in the wake of the disputed election. One month later, Kibaki appointed a commission to investigate allegations of election irregularities. Unrest in the country continued, however. In late December of that year, hecklers cut short Kibaki's annual independence day speech. In 2009, Kibaki promised to make his country more open to new businesses. "Government departments must expedite all applications and submissions presented to them by stakeholders on improving the environment of doing business in the country. This is the attitude government departments must adopt, " Kibaki said, as quoted by the Nairobi publication Business Daily.

PERSONAL INFORMATION Born Mwai Kibaki on November December 8, 1938, in Nyeri, Kenya; married Lucy Muthoni, 1962; children: Judy, Jimmy, David, and Tony Education: Makerere University Uganda, economics, history and political science, 1955; London School of Economics, BSc, economics and public finance, 1958. Religion: Catholic. Memberships: Committee, member and chair; House Business Committee, member. Addresses: Office--Harambee House, Office of the President, P.O. Box 30510, Nairobi, Kenya.

CAREER Makerere University, Uganda, assistant economics lecturer; 1958-60; national executive officer of Kenya African National Union, 1960-62; Central Legislative Assembly of East African Common Services Organization, representative from Kenya, 1962; Member of Parliament, 1963-; parliamentary secretary to minister of finance, 1963-65; assistant minister of economics, planning, and development, 1964-66; minister for commerce and industry, 1966-69; minister of finance and economic planning, 1970-82; branch chairman for KANU, 1974-91; minister of home affairs, 1983-88; vice president of Kenya, 1978-88; minister of health, 1988-91; National Democratic Party of Kenya, leader, 1991-; President of Kenya, 2002-.

Kenya: Mwai Kibaki Named Presidential Candidate by Opposition - 2002-10-26 Kenya: Mwai Kibaki Named Presidential Candidate by Opposition - 2002-10-26 Last Updated: October 30, 2009 11:01 AM Share Email to a Friend Print After months of negotiations, 14 opposition parties in Kenya this week agreed to unite behind one presidential candidate, former Vice President Mwai Kibaki. This is Mr. Kibaki's third campaign for president. He is 71-years-old, and it will undoubtedly be his last campaign. The December election pits Mr. Kibaki against KANU party candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya's founding father, Jomo Kenyatta. Though a political novice, 41-year-old Mr. Kenyatta has youth on his side, and his legendary family name. Mr. Kibaki has his experience. Speaking at the conference that nominated Mr. Kibaki, his colleague Moody Awori, listed some of his credentials, including the finance post he held during the years Jomo Kenyatta was in power.

"Honorable Mwai Kibaki was not only an outstanding Finance Minister in Kenya, Africa and the Commonwealth but he steered this country through a period of economic growth that was never equaled by the regime that succeeded him," said Moody Awori. "Honorable Mwai Kibaki served as vice president under circumstances that we can only describe modestly as having been difficult." In addition to serving Jomo Kenyatta, Mr. Kibaki was President Daniel arap Moi's vice president for 10 years, until he was fired in 1988. No reason was given for his dismissal and he soon crossed over to the opposition. In the 1997 elections, Mr. Kibaki came second to President Moi, winning 31 percent of the vote as head of the Democratic Party. This time around, Mr. Kibaki's chances are considered much better. He is now the presidential candidate of the National Rainbow Coalition, or NARC, an alliance of 14 opposition parties. In the last election, the candidates of the parties now in the Rainbow coalition won 58 per cent of the vote.

But because the votes were divided among so many opposition candidates, no single party had enough votes to defeat the ruling KANU (Kenyan African National Union) party. But if the coalition manages to get all its supporters to vote for Mr. Kibaki, it should win in a landslide. If it does, it will mark the first defeat for KANU in the 39 years of Kenya's independence. Macharia Gaitho, a political commentator with Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper, believes Mr. Kibaki is the definite front-runner. "Well, I think right now he is the man to beat," he said. "KANU with all its machinery and everything else, obviously it can never be written off. But I think right now he's ahead of everybody else. It's the way it looks on the ground. This thing has given him a lot of mileage, the coming together of the opposition." However, Mr. Gaitho warns there is a major problem ahead for the opposition. While the members of the Rainbow coalition are united behind the candidacy of Mr. Kibaki, the real test is whether the coalition leaders will be able to agree on a single NARC candidate for every parliamentary constituency in the country.

"They are such a big group it can be very unwieldy," said Macharia Gaitho. "So many people from the different parties within that alliance will be aiming for the same parliamentary seat. You are going to have a lot of quarrels down there where you might see very many numbers moving away elsewhere if they feel they might not find it very easy to get that crowded ticket. I think that's a big problem they are going to face in the coming weeks." Mr. Kibaki's greatest advantage is that he represents a change from the Moi regime, under which corruption has become rampant and the economy has collapsed. Mr. Kibaki takes advantage of this disenchantment in his speeches. "Our first priority how can we revive this economy," said Mwai Kibaki. "How can we create new jobs, how we get those who have been unemployed be employed? Without revival of the economy we shall not achieve anything else. And the way to start in that revival of the economy is to begin by making people at ease in their dealing with this nation. We'll have a government which is going to get rid of corruption." Mr.

Kibaki says he will also bring back the rule of law in Kenya, where public respect for the judiciary is at an all time low. "We are seeking to have a judiciary which is independent and shall apply only the known law," he said. "And not a judiciary which can be telephoned by somebody to tell, 'That fellow is no good. Imprison that one. Or, that one release him.' Because you and I know there is nothing more painful in this nation of Kenya than the knowledge by an ordinary poor Kenyan that he is innocent, but the system does not care about an ordinary person. It is influenced by those who are able to pay." But Mr. Kibaki will have to work hard to make his reform program heard in every part of the country. The state-run Kenya Broadcasting Corporation has made no secret of the candidate it backs. Its broadcasts have been favoring Mr. Kenyatta, in violation of an agreement signed ahead of the 1997 election promising equal coverage for all candidates. Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is the only media source for eight out of 10 Kenyans.

Man in the News; Kenyan With a Long Memory -- Mwai Kibaki - The New York Times The New York Times World |Man in the News; Kenyan With a Long Memory -- Mwai Kibaki Search Continue reading the main story Kenya's septuagenarian leader, who has been involved in politics since independence in 1963, is being replaced by a septuagenarian leader who has been involved in politics since independence. Still, the switch from Daniel arap Moi, 78, who ruled Kenya for 24 years, to Mwai Kibaki, 71, who has been elected to replace him, is being viewed as a far-reaching transformation of this East African country's political landscape. For although the two men may appear similar in some important ways, rising from humble beginnings to the nation's highest office, what they represent is markedly different. Mr. Moi is one of the last of Africa's ''big men,'' authoritarian rulers for whom the continent has become known. He turned Kenya's presidency into own personal office. What he uttered became the law of the land.

His name is on everything from roads to currency -- although Moi Avenue has big potholes just like all the other roadways, and the shilling notes that bear Mr. Moi's face are worth less than ever. Continue reading the main story Mr. Kibaki grew up in the same political culture as Mr. Moi and spent years defending him. But when Mr. Moi was pressed by Western governments in 1991 to abolish one-party rule and open elections to the opposition, Mr. Kibaki jumped ship. He denounced the corruption in Mr. Moi's government, and has spent the last decade in opposition to the ruling Kenya African National Union. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Both the departing president and his successor spent most of their adult lives in the governing party, universally known as KANU, where treachery, corruption and malfeasance were in no short supply. Mr. Moi served as vice president to Jomo Kenyatta, the patriarch of Kenya's independence and its first president. Upon Mr. Kenyatta's death in 1978, Mr. Moi took over the presidency, and the party leadership. For his part, Mr.

Kibaki helped draft KANU's constitution in the days before the break from British rule. He later served as finance minister to Mr. Kenyatta and as Mr. Moi's vice president, a position he was later fired from after a power struggle. Even then, he stuck by his leader and his party. Until his last days in KANU, Mr. Kibaki defended the party as the best way to develop Kenya. He sought to reform KANU from inside, and denounced as agitators those who tried to discredit it. Over the last decade, he has been singing a new tune as Kenya politics has opened up to the extent that one could openly criticize the president and his party without landing in prison -- and now even vote it out of office. The social aspects of politics are not his forte. His official biography says that one of his weaknesses is that he is regarded as aloof by ordinary Kenyans. Some longtime friends say the same about him. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to.

Sign Up Privacy Policy ''He was not very social and did not want to go out with his friends,'' recalled Herman Wahatha, 74, who went to high school with Mr. Kibaki. ''When he was not herding cattle, he was either studying or working on his hobby.'' That was before golf became his passion. What he liked to do as a youth, Mr. Wahatha said, was to sharpen sticks to make traps that he would use to catch moles and other rodents. The new president was born in 1931 in Othaya, near the peaks of Mount Kenya. He grew up in a mud hut herding the family's cows. At Nyeri Boys School, he slept on a timber board and hay mattress, which he jokes is the reason he still tends to stand up straight. For now, though, he is sitting, in a wheelchair, recovering from injuries he suffered in a car accident during the campaign. If anyone suggests that Mr. Kibaki's age is an impediment, his backers compare him with Nelson Mandela, who led South Africa in his 70's. Mr. Kibaki is married to Lucy Muthoni and has four grown children and three grandchildren.

He loves golf (yet he has a 28 handicap) and jazz music, and prefers his beer the way most Kenyans do -- warm. He began his political activism at Makerere University in Uganda, which was the finest place to study in colonial East Africa, as chairman of the Kenya Students Association and vice chairman of the Makerere Students Guild. Advertisement Continue reading the main story He later went on to the London School of Economics and it was while he was there that one of his brothers was killed in the guerrilla struggle toward independence, known among some as the Mau Mau emergency. Mr. Kibaki, who has always been the cerebral sort, did not join in the fighting himself, but he and other young nationalists did sit in a bar one day and draft the constitution over drinks for the new KANU party. With the announcement that he would become president, Mr. Kibaki has dislodged the party from power. Those who have known him over the years are now watching and waiting for his next transformation.

''Kibaki was Moi's vice president for 10 years and he didn't seem to think he was such a bad guy in those days,'' said Smith Hempstone, the United States ambassador to Kenya in the early 1990's, when Mr. Kibaki was still a top KANU man. ''He did have a reputation for being smart and we'll have to see.'' Kenya: Mixed Scorecard for Kibaki Three Years On - allAfrica.com Kenya: Mixed Scorecard for Kibaki Three Years On more By Standard Team Nairobi — A mixture of hope, anger, betrayal, and despair hang over Mwai Kibaki's leadership three years after he became Kenya's third President. Amid cheers from a huge and hopeful crowd, Kibaki came into office on December 30, 2002, with his right leg in a cast after a December 3 road accident. The new President became the symbol of hope for a number of African countries as he took oath before a huge crowd that had waited patiently for hours under a hot sun for him to arrive for the historic transfer of power.

In a tough and patriotic speech, Kibaki - who got votes from almost all corners of the nation - promised an end to corruption, tribalism and the era of "anything goes". How has the President fared? Has he delivered on his promises? What happened to the great Narc dream? In this special audit exactly three years after Kibaki took the oath of office, The Standard takes a look at the Kibaki Era. Copyright © 2005 The East African Standard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. AllAfrica publishes around 800 reports a day from more than 140 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals , representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica .

To address comments or complaints, please Contact us .

Question: Mwai Kibaki became President of which African country in 2002?
Answer: Kenya