He was born in November 15th 1931 in Gatuyani village Othaya Division Nyeri County. He was the last born of the late Kibaki Githinji and the late Teressia Wanjiku.
Kibaki was a herder of cows and during the school holidays he was a conductor for a local bus company to earn some extra cash.
He attended Mangu High School for his O’ levels later on joined Makerere University in Uganda to study Economic, History and Political Science. It is here that he was elected as Vice Chairman of Makerere Students. Later on as Chairman of Kenya Students Association.
In 1955 he graduated with 1st Class honors degree which earned him a scholarship to prestigious London School of Economics.
In 1960, he resigned from being a lecturer and joined KANU as a politician working alongside the Late President Jomo Kenyatta.
In 1962, he married Lucy Muthoni and together they were blessed with four children Judy, Jimmy, David and Tony.
When Kenya gained independence, he was elected as the People’s Representative in Donholm Seat in Nairobi (Makadara).
In 1963-1965, he was elected parliament secretary by the ministry of finance. He was appointed by Jomo Kenyatta as Minister of Commerce and Industry.
As Minister of Finance, Kenyan’s economy grew by 7% with high prices of coffee, tea and horticultural grew tenfold as Kenya became the leading supplier of goods in East Africa Community.
In 1978, Jomo Kenyatta passed on. Later on the late Daniel Moi was elected as the President where Kibaki served as the fourth vice-president for ten years from 1978 to 1998 under president 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.
Believing that Kenya was once a ripe and vibrant country for multi-democracy, President Kibaki exited from government and led the charge of keeping the ruling party accountable.
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 official opposition in Parliament from 1998 to 2002. In the presidential election, he was elected as president of Kenya.
He served as president of Kenya from 2002-2013.
By Purity Nyang’ara
Comment here