Brilliant Mwai: The story of the third President
By: Nelvin Polvin Nelvin
Posted on Friday, April 22, 2022
Stanley Emilio Mwai Kibaki is recognized as the Kenyan president who delivered the most entertaining speeches of all Kenyan presidents.
From calling out entities whose conduct he found odd, to cracking jokes to drive the point home. A man of his stature is often praised, and rightfully so, but it must also be noted he came from a humble background.
Kibaki was born in Thunguri village on 15th November 1931 in Othaya division of Kenya's then Nyeri District, now Nyeri County. His parents Kibaki Githinji and Teresia Wanjiku, were both villagers. Despite being baptized as Emilio Stanley by Italian missionaries when he was a child, he has always been known as Mwai Kibaki in public.
His early schooling was made possible by his older brother-in-law, Paul Muruthi, who insisted that young Mwai attends school instead of grazing his father's sheep and cattle and babysitting his younger nephews and nieces for his elder sister.
Mwai Kibaki proved to be a great student, perhaps foreshadowing his future as an intellectual. He attended Gatuyaini School for the first two years of his education.
Later, he enrolled in Karima Mission School for three more primary school classes. Before joining high school, he learned the trades of carpentry and masonry. He then attended Mang'u High School, where he studied from 1947 to 1950. In his "O" level examination, he passed with Grade 1 Distinction.
During the holidays, he would work as a bus conductor for Othaya African Bus Union. Kibaki considered becoming a soldier in his final year in Mang'u, influenced by veterans of the First and Second World Wars in his hometown.
However, his military ambitions were destroyed when the Chief colonial secretary Walter Coutts issued a ruling prohibiting the enlistment of the Kikuyu, Embu, and Meru communities into the army.
Kibaki instead studied economics, history, and political science at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, where he finished first in his class in 1955 with a First Class Honours Degree (BA) in Economics.
After graduating, Kibaki worked as an Assistant Sales Manager for Shell Company of East Africa's Uganda Division.
He also received a scholarship that allowed him to pursue postgraduate studies at the prestigious London School of Economics where he graduated (with honors) with a BSc in public finance.
In 1958, he returned to Makerere where he worked as an Assistant Lecturer in the department of economics until 1961. Kibaki married Lucy Muthoni, the daughter of a church preacher and a high school principal, in that same year.
Both as a man and an academic he was brilliant and his work, both as a public servant and in the highest office in the land, speaks volumes of his intellect.
Written by Albert Wambura
