Kibaki’s legacy was marred when irregularities throughout a re-election bid resulted in lethal violence.
Former Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki, who led the nation from 2002 to 2013, has died at 90.
As chief, Kibaki, one of many nation’s richest males, ushered in financial reforms and a brand new structure however did not ship on guarantees to fight corruption. His tenure was marred by the disputed 2007 polls that led to lethal violence.
In 2002, the British-educated economist gained a landslide election, upsetting a candidate handpicked by outgoing president Daniel arap Moi. Kibaki had beforehand served as Moi’s vice chairman.
Kibaki’s fiscal prudence and infrastructure initiatives breathed life again into Kenya’s sluggish financial system, and he's additionally credited with ending many restrictions on freedom of expression.
Nonetheless, a rift with the favored Raila Odinga, a fellow chief within the NARC coalition, led to a bitter showdown that turned violent through the subsequent election in 2007.
With Odinga forward by a number of hundred thousand votes, the electoral fee abruptly stopped asserting the outcomes and ejected journalists. Hours later, the fee introduced Kibaki had gained by a slender margin and he was hurriedly sworn in.
Election observers mentioned the polls had been flawed and Odinga referred to as for protests.
Amid a crackdown by safety forces, ethnic violence flared in Nairobi’s slums, the Rift Valley highlands and the lakeside metropolis of Kisumu. In a single incident, a number of individuals had been burned alive in a church.
At the least 1,250 individuals had been killed earlier than former United Nations chief Kofi Annan brokered a peace deal that noticed the formation of a grand coalition authorities, with Odinga as prime minister.
The coalition lasted 5 years and a brand new structure was enacted in 2010 that devolved some powers from the presidency to the counties.
The son of a tobacco dealer, Kibaki attended Kampala’s Makerere College earlier than turning into the primary African to earn a first-class diploma from the London College of Economics.
He returned to Makerere as an economics lecturer in 1958. Following Kenya’s independence, he was chosen to parliament and have become an aide to founding President Jomo Kenyatta. Two years later, he was appointed commerce and trade minister.
Kibaki later served as Moi’s vice chairman, however a spat noticed him moved to a number of much less distinguished posts earlier than he switched to the opposition and gained the election.
He's survived by a number of youngsters and grandchildren.
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