How Mwai Kibaki will spend his 90th birthday

Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki, Kenya’s third President, is marking his 90th birthday today, the ninth since he left State House in 2013.

Said to be “doing fine”, the former Head of State is marking the big day at his Nairobi home in the company of his sons Jimmy, Tony and David, daughter Judy and a host of grandchildren.

And while Kenyans on social media have grandiose ideas about a birthday befitting a former statesman, the Nation has established that Mr Kibaki is treating his big day like any other.

“Like it has been in the past, it is not a big deal for mzee. He woke up to his routine: a workout, a walk, catching up with news and then reading books,” a source close to the family told the Nation on Monday.

“He is a man of discipline and not even a birthday can change his schedule.”
Commonly referred to as Baba Jimmy in social circles, the Makerere University alumnus is said to be an avid reader of books and journals on governance, economics and personalities — biographies and autobiographies.

“During his free time, he retreats to reflect on all manner of things quietly,” the source said of the former politician who was widowed five years ago.

His wife, former First Lady Lucy Kibaki, passed on while undergoing treatment at a London hospital on April 26, 2016.

Since retiring, the source said, Mr Kibaki prefers to lead a private life and there are no special guests expected at his residence today.

“What Kenyans don’t know is that Kibaki doesn’t like dragging his private life into the limelight. Today, he will only entertain his immediate family,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity since he is not authorised to issue media briefs.

“Some leaders and friends may have sent him congratulatory messages and he reviews those in private too.”

Mr Kibaki was last seen in public in February last year while paying his last respects to his predecessor Daniel arap Moi at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi.

He has avoided politics and discourse on national issues since his retirement even as 2022 presidential aspirants, including Raila Odinga, keep invoking his name as they woo voters in the populous Mt Kenya.

“Mzee is no longer interested in the contestation of ideas. He prefers to observe and keep those observations to himself.”

Mr Odinga is locked in a do-or-die battle for Mt Kenya’s eight million votes, the biggest swing vote in Kenya’s history, against his former-ally-turned-rival William Ruto.

As part of his claimed track record, Mr Odinga has been citing Kenya’s seven-percent economic growth and the infrastructure projects, especially roads, he initiated with Mr Kibaki during the Narc and Grand Coalition governments.

The former prime minister has also been revisiting his 2002 “Kibaki Tosha” endorsement of the former Head of State as he urges central Kenya to back his 2022 bid against Dr Ruto, the deputy President.

Born to Kibaki Githinji and Teresia Wanjiku on November 15, 1931 at Gatuyaini, Othaya, Nyeri County, Mr Kibaki is the last-born in a family of eight.

His siblings included Esther Waitherero, Philip Muriithi, Bernard Nderitu and Samuel Githinji.

Of those, only Ms Waitherero,105, is alive.