President pays tribute to late Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has paid tribute to the late former Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki, for dedicating his entire adult life to the service of his country.
He died on Thursday, April 21, 2022 at the age of 90 years.
President Akufo-Addo signed a book of condolence at the Kenyan High Commission in Accra yesterday and expressed condolences to the people of Kenya.
He wrote: “This is to express the condolences and sympathies of the people and government of Ghana to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the people and government of Kenya on the sad loss of the former President of Kenya, HE Mwai Kibaki who gave his entire life to the public service of his people and country. May his soul rest in perfect peace with God”.
Former President Kibaki, a member of the Kikuyu tribe in Kenya, attended the London School of Economics in the 1950s and worked as a teacher before becoming active in the Kenyan struggle for independence from Great Britain.
Following Kenya’s independence in 1963, Mr Kibaki won a seat in the National Assembly as a member of the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party.
He later served as minister of finance (1969–82) and vice president (1978–88) but increasingly found himself at odds with President Daniel arap Moi, who headed KANU. In 1991 Kibaki resigned his membership in KANU to form the Democratic Party.
Kibaki unsuccessfully challenged Moi in the presidential elections of 1992 and 1997, though in 1998 he became the official head of the opposition.
With Moi constitutionally barred from seeking another presidential term, Kibaki sought the presidency for a third time. In September 2002 he helped create the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), a multiparty alliance that nominated Kibaki as its presidential candidate.
A few weeks before the election, Kibaki was involved in a car accident and suffered serious injuries. Although he was confined to a wheelchair, he continued his campaign and easily defeated Moi’s chosen successor, Uhuru Kenyatta (a son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president).
In parliamentary elections NARC routed the ruling KANU, which had dominated Kenya since the country’s independence.
Barred from holding a third term as president, Kibaki stepped down at the end of his term in April 2013. He was succeeded by Kenyatta, who had defeated Odinga in an election held the previous month.
BY YAW KYEI