Our Kenya

Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta

4 min read

Mwai Kibaki's relationship with Uhuru Kenyatta was politically delicate and personally complex. Uhuru was the son of Kenya's founding president, Jomo Kenyatta, and heir to the most powerful political dynasty in Kenya. He was also the man Kibaki defeated in the 2002 election, when Uhuru ran as Daniel arap Moi's chosen successor and lost badly. Kibaki spent the next decade managing Uhuru: keeping him inside the tent, elevating him enough to maintain Kikuyu elite support, but not so much that Uhuru became a rival. When Kibaki stepped down in 2013, Uhuru succeeded him. The transition was smooth, almost dynastic, a passing of the Kikuyu presidency from one generation to the next.

The 2002 election could have made them permanent enemies. Uhuru, then 40 and politically inexperienced, had been thrust into the presidential race by Moi, who feared that Kibaki or Raila Odinga would dismantle KANU's patronage networks. Uhuru's campaign was well-funded but doomed. He had the Kenyatta name but little else. Voters wanted change, and Uhuru represented continuity with a regime they despised. He lost by 31 percentage points. But instead of retreating, Uhuru stayed in politics, rebuilding KANU and positioning himself as the leader of the Kikuyu political class.

Kibaki, recognizing Uhuru's symbolic importance, brought him into government. In 2005, Uhuru was appointed Minister of Local Government. The appointment was strategic: it kept Uhuru engaged, gave him administrative experience, and signaled to the Kikuyu elite that Kibaki was not shutting them out. During the 2005 constitutional referendum, when the NARC coalition split, Uhuru sided with Kibaki's "Banana" campaign. The alliance was cementing.

The 2007 election deepened their partnership. Uhuru campaigned vigorously for Kibaki's re-election, mobilizing Kikuyu voters in Central Province and Nairobi. When violence erupted, Uhuru was among the hardliners in Kibaki's camp, reportedly opposing power-sharing with Raila. He believed Kibaki had won and should govern alone. But the Kofi Annan mediation forced the National Accord, and Uhuru had to accept Raila as prime minister. Uhuru served as Deputy Prime Minister in the coalition, a largely ceremonial role, but it kept him visible.

The ICC indictments in 2011 changed everything. Uhuru was named as one of the "Ocampo Six," accused of organizing and financing violence in Naivasha and Nakuru, where Kikuyu militias attacked Luo and Kalenjin residents in retaliation for Rift Valley killings. The charges were serious: crimes against humanity. Uhuru denied them, framing the ICC as a Western court attacking African leaders. Kibaki's government cooperated with the ICC initially, but as the political costs became clear, cooperation waned. Kibaki was careful not to openly defend Uhuru, but he also did not aggressively pursue domestic accountability.

The ICC cases became Uhuru's path to the presidency. He and William Ruto, also indicted, formed the Jubilee Alliance in 2012, mobilizing Kikuyu and Kalenjin voters around a narrative of victimhood and sovereignty. The campaign message was: vote for us to reject foreign interference. It worked. In the 2013 election, Uhuru defeated Raila in a contested but ultimately accepted result. Kibaki, having declined to seek a third term, quietly endorsed Uhuru. The transition was peaceful, and Kibaki handed over power gracefully.

Kibaki's legacy to Uhuru was institutional and political. The 2010 Constitution and devolution created constraints on executive power that Uhuru would chafe against. But Kibaki also handed over a relatively stable economy, functioning infrastructure, and a political settlement that, while imperfect, had avoided another explosion of violence. Uhuru inherited the presidency Kibaki had held for a decade. The Kikuyu political class, which had dominated under Kenyatta, lost power under Moi, and regained it under Kibaki, now passed it to the next generation.

Uhuru's presidency from 2013 to 2022 was defined by mega-infrastructure projects, escalating debt, and eventually a surprising reconciliation with Raila through the "Handshake" in 2018. Kibaki, who retired quietly to his Othaya home, watched from the sidelines. He rarely commented on politics. When he died in April 2022, Uhuru declared a period of national mourning. The tributes emphasized Kibaki's economic legacy and the peaceful transfer of power he had overseen. The relationship between them, pragmatic and mutually beneficial, had shaped a decade of Kenyan politics.

See Also

Sources

  1. Branch, Daniel, and Nic Cheeseman. "The Politics of Control in Kenya: Understanding the Bureaucratic-Executive State, 1952-78." Review of African Political Economy 33, no. 107 (2006). https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/crea20
  2. Mueller, Susanne D. "Kenya and the International Criminal Court (ICC): Politics, the Election, and the Law." Journal of Eastern African Studies 8, no. 1 (2014). https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rjea20
  3. Hornsby, Charles. Kenya: A History Since Independence. I.B. Tauris, 2012.
  4. "Uhuru Kenyatta: Profile," BBC News, 2022. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa