Mwai Kibaki's Presidency

2002: Swearing-in, end of KANU rule, retirement of Moi

On 29 December 2002, still nursing injuries from the motor vehicle accident and in a wheel chair, Mwai Kibaki was sworn-in as the third President andcommader in chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya. At his inauguration, he stressed his opposition to government corruption: "Government will no longer be run on the whims of individuals." he said
Thus ended four decades of KANU rule, KANU having hitherto ruled Kenya since independence.
Kenya's 2nd President, Daniel Arap Moi, who had been in power for 24 years since 1978 as an African Big man Political Science President, also began his retirement.

Leadership style

President Kibaki's style was that of a low key publicity averse but highly intelligent and competent technocrat. This contrasted sharply with the hitherto populist buffoonish strongman big-man style of his predecessor and of many other African leaders.
He, unlike his predecessors, never tried to establish a personality cult; never had his portrait on every unit of Kenya's currency; never had all manner of streets, places and institutions named after him,; never had state sanctioned praise songs composed in his honour; never dominated news bulletins with reports of his presidential activities - however routine or mundane; and never engaged in the populist sloganeering of his predecessors.

President Mwai Kibaki meets with Adm. William J. Fallon, Commander of U.S. Central Command

His style of a seemingly aloof withdrawn technocrat or intellectual did however make him seem out of touch with the street, and his seemingly hands-off leadership by delegation style made his governments, especially at cabinet level, seem dysfunctional.

2003: free primary education

 

In January 2003, Kibaki introduced a free primary education initiative, which brought over 1 million children who would not have been able to afford school the chance to attend.^[ The initiative received positive attention, including praise from Bill Clinton, , who would travel to Kenya to meet Kibaki.

2005: constitutional referendum, the NARC fallout and government of national unity

The 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum was held on 21 November 2005. The main issue of contention in the Constitution review process was how much power should be vested in the Kenyan Presidency. In previous drafts, those who feared a concentration of power in the president added provisions for European-style power-sharing between a ceremonial President elected via universal suffrage and an executive Prime Minister elected by Parliament. The draft presented by the Attorney General Amos Wako for the referendum retained sweeping powers for the Presidency.

Though supported by Kibaki, some members of his own cabinet, mainly from the LDP wing led by Raila Odinga, and the main opposition party KANU, mobilised a powerful NO campaign that resulted in a majority of 58% Kenyan voters rejecting the draft.
As a consequence of, and immediately after, the referendum loss, on 23 November 2005, Kibaki dismissed his entire cabinet in the middle of his administration's term, the aim being to purge all Raila allied ministers from the cabinet. About his decision Kibaki said, "Following the results of the Referendum, it has become necessary for me, as the President of the Republic, to re-organise my Government to make it more cohesive and better able to serve the people of Kenya". The only members of the cabinet office to be spared a midterm exit were the Vice President and Minister of Home Affairs, Moody Awori, , and the Attorney General whose position is constitutionally protected. A new cabinet of Kibaki loyalists, including MPs from the opposition, termed the Government of National Unity (GNU), was thereafter appointed, but some MPs who were offered ministerial positions declined to take up posts.
A report by a Kenyan Commission of Inquiry, the Waki Commission, contextualises some issues. They reported that Kibaki, after agreeing to an informal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create the post of Prime Minister, reneged on this pact after being elected. They cite criticism of Kibaki neglecting his pre-election agreement, leaving the public to identify it as an attempt by the Kibaki Government to "keep power to itself rather than share it."

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kenya"