Mwai Kibaki, Former Kenya President Is Dead
Mwai Kibaki, Kenya’s former President who served from 2002 to 2013, is died. Mwai Kibaki, Kenya’s former president, died at the age of 90.
As president, Kibaki, one of the country’s wealthiest men, brought in economic reforms and a new constitution, but he failed to follow through on promises to fight corruption. The disputed 2007 polls, which resulted in fatal unrest, damaged his presidency.
In 2002, the British-educated economist defeated a candidate chosen by outgoing President Daniel arap Moi in a landslide election. Kibaki had previously held the position of vice president in Moi’s administration.
Kibaki is credited with restoring Kenya’s sluggish economy through budgetary discipline and infrastructural projects, as well as eliminating many limitations on freedom of expression. However, a schism with Raila Odinga, a popular NARC coalition member, resulted in a tense standoff that turned violent during the next election in 2007.
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With Odinga leading by hundreds of thousands of votes, the election commission unexpectedly halted the results announcement and removed media. Kibaki was rushedly sworn in when the commission announced he had won by a razor-thin margin. Odinga called for protests after election observers concluded the polls were rigged.
Ethnic violence erupted in Nairobi’s slums, Rift Valley highlands, and the lakeside city of Kisumu amid a security crackdown. Several people were burned alive in a church in one event. Before former UN chief Kofi Annan secured a peace settlement that saw the formation of a grand coalition government with Odinga as prime minister, at least 1,250 people were slain.
