The Mwai Kibaki I knew

Mwai Kibaki as Finance Minister. June 1973. [File, Standard]

I first met the Honourable Mwai Kibaki, then a Finance Minister when he came for a fundraising event at his old Nyeri Primary School in 1978, soon he had been appointed Vice President of the Republic of Kenya. When I went over to make my contribution he proudly announced that “na huyu kijana Isaiya ametoa Sh40 (and this young man Isaiya has contributed Sh40)”. It was a moment I cherished and since then I became a Kibaki watcher, of course then a rising political star, who would be a great influence over Kenya’s political and economic history for the next 35 years.

I proudly displayed a photo of Kibaki in my University of Nairobi residence room and was obviously disappointed when he was demoted from the post of Vice-President but was quick to admire the gusto with which he performed his responsibilities as Health Minister.