Kibaki a strangely anti-politics president

Secondly, he just shut up and stayed out of sight. Three months could pass before what he had done or said was a lead item on TV or in the newspapers.His government, too, became plagued by corruption and was accused of tribalism.Competent meritocracyHis genius was in engineering competing sunny narratives and realities. He generated a strong democratic smell in the Kenyan air — despite the occasional takedown of the media. His was the golden age of Kenyan freedom, which his rivals used to exhaust themselves in feuds and rants, living him largely unmolested in State House, only with the handful of First Lady Lucy Kibaki to contend with.Kibaki oversaw a dizzying Kenyan economic comeback. Kenyan prestige and standing in the world cleaned up rather well. Then, while his old buddies and inner circle corruptly ate the fruit at the top of the tree, in the second tier of government Kibaki created a competent meritocracy which brought the bacon home.In December 2007, it went horribly wrong with the election fiasco and the deadly post-election violence that followed. But even in a crisis, his ‘invisible’ ways came into play. Nobody accused him of personally overseeing the heist. It was presumed that the election was stolen for him, and he reluctantly went to that controversial and unusual swearing-in in the middle of the night.And when his trousers fell to his ankles as he addressed a rally at the pulpit, it was embarrassing, yes, but it made him look like the lovable, relatable, clumsy uncle or grandfather we all have.Kibaki died on April 21, 2022. He was 90. He must have gone happily. It had been long since somebody cussed him out.Mr Onyango-Obbo is a journalist, writer and curator of the “Wall of Great Africans”. @cobbo3

Kibaki a strangely anti-politics president

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