Africa

Background

Profile: Kenyan President Emilio Mwai Kibaki

Daniel Teng'o
World Press Review correspondent
Nairobi, Kenya
Jan. 22, 2002

Emilio Mwai Kibaki (Photo: AFP).

Kenyan President Emilio Mwai Kibaki, 71, is no stranger to the highest levels of Kenyan politics. He served as Kenya’s vice president in 1978, soon after Kenya’s former president, Daniel arap Moi, took over from Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta. Kibaki beat Kenyatta’s son Uhuru by a landslide in the 2002 elections.

Born on Nov. 15, 1931, in central Kenya, Kibaki quickly showed academic promise in his rural school. He grew his own food, learned carpentry and masonry, and was always top of his class. At “O” levels, he attained an unprecedented six points, the highest possible score. He repeated the same at “A” levels, where he got four principal passes, the highest possible grade.

He then proceeded to Uganda’s pioneer institution of higher learning, Makerere University, where he read economics, political science, and history, graduating with high honors in 1954. At Makerere, he was the chairman of the Kenya Students’ Association in the university.

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His academic achievements landed him a scholarship at the London School of Economics, where he also did well before returning to Makerere University as a lecturer in economics.

He quit his job at Makerere in 1960 and returned to Kenya to aid in the drafting of the constitution of the Kenya Africa National Union (KANU). In the process, he became the party’s first executive officer.

In 1963, he was elected to Parliament, representing a district in suburban Nairobi. Three years later, he was appointed minister for commerce and industry before being promoted to finance minister, serving from 1969-1979. Aside from being the longest-serving finance minister in Kenyan history, he is credited presiding over a decade of strong economic growth.

In 1979, after 10 years as a finance minister and one year as a vice president, Kibaki was demoted to the less glamorous Home Affairs Ministry and later transferred to the then-beleaguered Ministry of Health, from which he resigned in December 1991 amid rumors of a fallout with Moi.

Unlike most Kenyan ministers, when Kibaki’s relationship with the president became strained, he did not wait to be fired, but resigned to form the Democratic Party of Kenya. He ran for president under the Democratic Party banner in Kenya’s first multiparty elections in 1992, losing to Moi by roughly 800,000 votes. In 1997, Kibaki lost to Moi again, winning 1.9 million votes against Moi’s 2.5 million.

Over the years, the press has portrayed Kibaki as having a “gentlemanly” approach to politics. He is reputed to be an avid reader, golfer, and a fan of jazz music. Kibaki’s wife Lucy is the daughter of a clergyman. They have four adult children and many grandchildren.




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Profile: Kenyan President Emilio Mwai Kibaki

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