Former Kenya President Mwai Kibaki dead at 90

NAIROBI, KENYA: – Kenya’s former president Mwai Kibaki is dead, Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of the Republic of Kenya announced on Friday morning.
“It is a sad day for us as a country. We have lost a great leader, the former president Mwai Kibaki,” President Kenyatta said in a news conference from State House.

Kibaki died aged 90 years old. He served as Kenya’s third president, from 2003 to 2013.

President Kenyatta said that in memory of the late Kibaki, the country will observe a period of mourning from today, adding that all Kenyan flags at all public buildings, ministries, and missions worldwide will be flown at half-mast until the day he is buried.
“I order and direct that in the testimony of high esteem that all Kenyans held for Mwai Kibaki, the country will hold a period of national mourning until sunset on the day he will be buried. All flags will fly at half-mast during this period,” Uhuru said in a Friday address.

As a leading figure in Kenya’s post-independence history, his excellency Mwai Kibaki earned the abiding respect and affection of the people of this nation and other nations throughout the world,” the head of state said.

He previously served as the fourth Vice-President of Kenya for ten years from 1978 to 1988 under President Daniel Arap Moi.
He also held cabinet ministerial positions in the Kenyatta and Moi governments, including time as minister for Finance (1969–1981) under Kenyatta, and Minister for Home Affairs (1982–1988) and Minister for Health (1988–1991) under Moi.

Kibaki served as an opposition Member of Parliament from 1992 to 2002. He unsuccessfully vied for the presidency in 1992 and 1997. He served as the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament from 1998 to 2002. In the 2002 presidential election, he was elected as President of Kenya.

He is survived by four children, Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagi and Tony Githingi.