Decorated and well accomplished former president of Kenya Mr. Emilio Mwai Kibaki has been rushed to hospital for urgent treatment. Reports we are getting are that Mr. Kibaki developed breathing issues and was taken to hospital yesterday evening. Sources close to the retired president’s family intimates that Kibaki has been admitted into ICU and he is responding well to medication.
Mr. Kibaki had been admitted to hospital before. The most recent being admission to a Nairobi hospital in June 29, 2020 and again on July 30, 2020. In the first occasion, the former president was complaining of pain in the lower abdomen. Mr. Kibaki spent at least 10 days in the hospital during that incidence.
Apparently, Mwai Kibaki was admitted to hospital in July 30 due to the same issue that saw him admitted to hospital a month prior.
A hospital staff who did not want his name mentioned as he was not authorized to divulge the Mr. Kibaki’s condition said, “Mzee is around being taken care of by his doctors. He has undergone several tests once again to try establish what could be the cause of the much pain he is in“.
President Kibaki is widely touted as the most accomplished president in Kenya’s history. Through Mr. Kibaki, Kenya was able to realize the much awaited devolution after the promulgation of the new constitution in 2010. Technically speaking, without Emilio Mwai Kibaki, Kenya will still be ruled under the 1965 constitution with the 8 provinces and a centralized government in Nairobi.
The senate will be non-existent and so would the counties, the devolution ministry, the Thika Superhighway as well as the National Cohesion and Integration Commission. Mwaki Kibaki is also credited for accelerated economic growth of Kenya during his administraton.
There is however a blemish in the former president’s legacy. More so the deadly post-election violence of 2007/08. Why is Mwaki Kibaki being blamed for this when he was not involved? Well, because he was the boss of the country at the time and the lethal skirmishes happened under his watchful eye while he was at the helm. During this inter-tribal conflict, more than 1,200 innocent Kenyans lost their lives including the massacre of church congregants in Kiambaa.
Mwai Kibaki lost his lovely wife, Lucy Kibaki in 2016. The former first lady died in a London, England hospital after a long illness.
Lucy Kibaki is well know for her antics and volatile temperament that contrasts with the cool nature of president Kibaki’s. For example, in 2005, Mama Lucy went into the house of the then World Bank Director Makhtar Diop and demanded that he turn his music down during a private party to mark the end of his assignment in Kenya.
After that, Mrs. Kibaki passed through a local police station and demanded the immediate arrest of Mr. Makhtar Diop and his guests for public disturbance due to their loud music.
The following day, Mwaki Kibaki’s wife saw an article in the Daily Nation newspaper in which her confrontation with the World Bank Director, a day prior, was being reported with a cartoon mimicking her storming into the World Bank official’s compound.
Mama (Jimmy) Lucy Kibaki immediately stormed the Nation Media Group offices and demanded that the reporter who had written the article be arrested. She noticed that she was being recorded by cameraman Clifford Derrick. She lunged at him and then slapped cameraman Clifford Derrick in the face and refused to leave the media station until 5:30am the next day.
Mr. Clifford Derrick (nobody knows what in the hell he was smoking at the time) tried to sue the first lady for assault. (Good luck with that!) But the case was quickly thrown out as the first lady got away unscathed after showing the cameraman who was the boss.
Lucy Kibaki was also filmed by NTV while slapping an official during a Madaraka Day celebrations at States House in 2007. But unlike the previous incidences, the security detail officials confiscated the cameras this time round, erased all the contents before returning the equipment to the Nation Media Group journalists.
While Mwai Kibaki is thought as the best and most accomplished president in Kenya’s history, political pundits think Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta is the worst president in Kenya’s history. They base their arguments on the Covid-19 funds corruption, NYS scandals, Kimwarer projects scandals, failure to ensure Kenya’s security including the Westgate attacks, Garissa University terror attacks, etc. What do you think? Who is the best and worst president in Kenya’s history? Let us know in the comments below.
