Editing Mwai Kibaki (section)

===1960–2002===
In early 1960, Mwai Kibaki left academia for active politics by giving up his job at Makerere and returning to Kenya to become an executive officer of [[Kenya African National Union]] (KANU), at the request of [[Thomas Joseph Mboya]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goidsu'ortly |first1=David |title=Tom Mboya |date=1982 |publisher=Heinemann |location=London |page=147 |edition=first }}</ref> (who was the secretary general of KANU). Kibaki then helped to draft [[Lancaster House Conferences (Kenya)|Kenya's independence constitution]].<ref name="France24DeathNotice">{{Cite web |title=Mwai Kibaki: Former Kenyan president leaves mixed legacy |agency=[[Agence France Presse]] |work=[[France 24]] |date=22 April 2022 |access-date=22 April 2022 |url= https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220422-mwai-kibaki-former-kenyan-president-leaves-mixed-legacy}}</ref>

In 1963, Kibaki was elected as Member of Parliament for the [[Makadara Constituency|Doonholm Constituency]] (subsequently called Bahati and now known as Makadara) in [[Nairobi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mzalendo.com/Members.Details.php?ID=20|title=Eye on Kenyan Parliament|publisher=mzalendo|access-date=7 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508232657/http://www.mzalendo.com/Members.Details.php?ID=20|archive-date=8 May 2008}}</ref> His election was the start of a long political career. In 1963 Kibaki was appointed the Permanent Secretary for the Treasury.<ref name="turks">Daily Nation, 13 April 2003: {{cite web|url=http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/13042003/Comment/Opinion_Analysis1304200324.html |title=The Influential Young Turks of the 60s |access-date=21 April 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040109145832/http://www.nationaudio.com/News/DailyNation/13042003/Comment/Opinion_Analysis1304200324.html |archive-date=9 January 2004 }}</ref> Appointed Assistant Minister of Finance and chairman of the Economic Planning Commission in 1963, he was promoted to Minister of Commerce and Industry in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/mwai-kibaki|title=Mwai Kibaki: Biography from|publisher=Answers.com|access-date=1 June 2010}}</ref> In 1969, he became Minister of Finance and Economic Planning where he served until 1982.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2612893.stm|title=Profile – Kenya's New Leader," BBC News Online|publisher=BBC News|date=29 December 2002|access-date=1 June 2010|first=Russell|last=Smith}}</ref>

In 1974, Kibaki, facing serious competition for his Doonholm Constituency seat from an opponent Mrs. [[Jael Mbogo]], whom he had only narrowly and controversially beaten for the seat in the 1969 elections,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/03/kenya.xanrice|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=Wave of anarchy blamed on Kenya's 'General Coward'|first=Xan|last=Rice|date=3 February 2008|access-date=19 May 2010}}</ref> moved his political base from [[Nairobi]] to his rural home, Othaya, where he was subsequently elected as Member of Parliament. The same year ''[[Time magazine]]'' rated him among the top 100 people in the world who had the potential to lead. He was re-elected Member of Parliament for Othaya in the subsequent elections of 1979, 1983, 1988, 1992, 1997, 2002, and 2007.<ref name="statehousekenya2">PROFILE OF HIS EXCELLENCY HON. MWAI KIBAKI, C.G.H., M.P., PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA {{cite web|url=http://www.statehousekenya.go.ke/presidents/kibaki/kibaki-profile.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=27 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428122205/http://www.statehousekenya.go.ke/presidents/kibaki/kibaki-profile.pdf |archive-date=28 April 2014}}</ref>

When [[Daniel arap Moi]] succeeded [[Jomo Kenyatta]] as President of Kenya in 1978, Kibaki was elevated to the [[Vice-President of Kenya|Vice Presidency]], and kept the Finance portfolio until Moi changed his ministerial portfolio from Finance to Home Affairs in 1982. He had in 1978 rejected an offer to become World Bank Vice President for Africa instead choosing to further his political career. As of 2023, he is still regarded as one of the most effective and consequential finance ministers of the Republic of Kenya. Later as President, he kept close tabs with the treasury and directly influenced key economic policies resulting in steady economic growth. Kibaki fell out of favor with President Moi in March 1988, and was dropped as vice president and moved to the Ministry of Health.<ref name="statehousekenya2"/><ref name="encyclopedia1">{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/mwai-kibaki|title=Columbia Encyclopedia: Mwai Kibaki|publisher=Answers.com|access-date=1 June 2010}}</ref>

Kibaki's political style during these years was described as gentlemanly and non-confrontational. This style exposed him to criticism that he was a spineless, or even cowardly, politician who never took a stand: according to one joke, "He never saw a fence he didn't sit on".<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1740693.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514230752/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1740693.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 May 2013|work=The Independent|location=London|title=Nairobi's corruption busting new leader tries to undo Moi's years of misrule|first=Declan|last=Walsh|date=4 January 2003|access-date=19 May 2010}}</ref> Similarly, [[Kenneth Matiba]] also referred to him as "General Kiguoya" for refusing to resign the Kanu government and join the opposition after he was dropped as vice president in 1988. 'Kiguoya' translates to the 'fearful one' in the [[Kikuyu language|Kikuyu]] language. He also, as the political circumstances of the time dictated, projected himself as a loyal stalwart of the ruling single party, KANU. In the months before multi-party politics were introduced in 1992, he infamously declared that agitating for multi-party democracy and trying to dislodge KANU from power was like "trying to cut down a fig tree with a razor blade".<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>

It was therefore with great surprise that the country received the news of Kibaki's resignation from government and leaving KANU on Christmas Day in December 1991, only days after the repeal of Section 2A of the then [[Constitution of Kenya (1963)|Constitution of Kenya]], which restored the [[multi-party system]] of government. Soon after his resignation, Kibaki founded the [[Democratic Party (Kenya)|Democratic Party (DP)]]<ref>[http://a24media.com/downloads/pdf/scripts/english/en_mwai_kibaki.pdf Mwai Kibaki. Trailer] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707072110/http://a24media.com/downloads/pdf/scripts/english/en_mwai_kibaki.pdf |date=7 July 2011 }}. a24media.com</ref> and entered the presidential race in the upcoming multi-party elections of 1992. Kibaki was regarded as one of the favourites among Moi's challengers, although his support came mainly from the Kikuyu voters as the election was fought along ethnic lines, confirming a prediction made by both Moi and political analysts at the beginning of multipartyism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=One-Party Rule Now Crumbling in Kenya|page=81 |work=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |last=Hiltzik |first=Michael A. |via=Newspapers.com |date=7 January 1992 |access-date=22 April 2022 |url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/177288644/?terms=kibaki&match=1}}</ref>

Kibaki came third in the subsequent presidential elections of 1992, when the divided opposition lost to president Moi and KANU despite having received more than two-thirds of the vote.<ref>{{Cite web |work=[[Detroit Free Press]] |last=Tyson |first=Remer |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=4 January 1993 |access-date=22 April 2022 |title=Kenyan boss shows how elections fail |agency=Free Press Africa Bureau |page=3 |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100239407/detroit-free-press/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |work=[[Evening Standard]] |title=Moi wins Kenya poll |page=18 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |date=4 January 1993 |access-date=22 April 2022 |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100239367/evening-standard/}}</ref> He then came second to Moi in the 1997 elections, when again, Moi beat a divided opposition to retain the presidency.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://africanelections.tripod.com/ke.html#1997_Presidential_Election|title=AFRICAN ELECTIONS DATABASE-Elections in Kenya|publisher=Africanelections.tripod.com|access-date=1 June 2010}}</ref> Kibaki joined third-placed [[Raila Odinga]] in accusing the president of rigging the poll, and both opposition leaders boycotted Moi's swearing in for his fifth term in office.<ref>{{Cite web |work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |agency=[[Reuters]] |title=Kenya's Moi begins 5th term as president, vows corruption battle |page=8 |via=Newspapers.com |date=6 January 1998 |access-date=22 April 2022 |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/100239919/st-louis-post-dispatch/}}</ref>