Mwai Emilio Stanley Kibaki

President (since 2002); leader of the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition; Chair, Democratic Party

Date of Birth: 15/11/1931
Place of Birth: Gatuyaini village, Othaya, Nyeri district, Central Province

Commentary: A veteran of Kenyan politics, first becoming a member of parliament in 1963, Mwai Kibaki was originally a stalwart of the Kenya African National Union (KANU). He served under President Jomo Kenyatta as Finance Minister and when Daniel arap Moi took over after Kenyatta's death in 1978, he rose to the position of Vice-President. He continued to manage the finance portfolio until he exchanged it for a role in the Ministry of Home Affairs and National Heritage.

A dispute with Moi resulted in his demotion from the Vice-Presidency in 1988 and consequent transfer to the Ministry of Health. This fall from favour was followed in 1991, by the repeal of Section 2A of the Kenyan constitution at Kasarani. Kibaki seized this opportunity for the recognition of opposing political parties and left KANU to form the Democratic Party (DP) on the 25 December 1991. On the DP ticket Kibaki ran for President in two succesive elections in 1992 and 1997, but only managed to come third and then second.

It was not until 2002 that Kibaki's presidential desires were realised. On this occasion he prepared for the election by merging the DP with 13 smaller parties, creating the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK), which in turn conjoined with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form an umbrella coalition party, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). Kibeki won a landslide victory and was sworn in on 30 December 2002, claiming the presidency at his third attempt.

Kibaki's first term was marred by the heated consitutional debates that raged over presidential powers. When a referendum in November 2005 rejected a draft constitution, supported by Kibaki, he took the dramatic step of dismissing his entire cabinet along with all the deputy ministers that he could constitutionally remove and replacing them with his supporters.

The issue of presidential power returned to haunt Kibaki in the controversial 2007 elections. His presidential ticket was endorsed by a new alliance called the Party of National Unity (PNU) which was made up of a number of parties, including KANU, the DP and NARC Kenya. The Electoral Commission declared Kibaki the victor on 30 December 2007, however, Raila Odinga, Kibaki's closest rival, refused to accept this result, raising allegations of fraud that were supported to a strong degree by popular opinion. Riots followed Kibaki's re-election. Unrest continued until a power sharing deal was reached that gave Odinga the newly created post of Prime Minister.