President Uhuru Kenyatta announced on Friday that Mwai Kibaki, Kenya’s third president from 2003 to 2013, has died at the age of 90.
Kibaki is credited with recovering Kenya’s ailing economy, but his presidency was overshadowed by deadly violence that erupted after his contested re-election in December 2007.
Mwai Kibaki funeral, burial service, pictures, date, time, venue
Since independence, his victory in 2002 brought an end to 40 years of one-party rule.
His re-election in 2007 provoked months of countrywide rioting, resulting in 1,200 deaths.
President Kenyatta led the tributes, stating that Mr. Kibaki had “lead the charge to hold the ruling party accountable” and had “won the nation’s abiding esteem and admiration.”
Kenyatta has declared a period of mourning in honor of Kibaki, during which flags will be lowered to half-mast.
Kibaki was born in the village of Thunguri in the year 1931.
Though he was baptized as Emilio Stanley by Italian missionaries when he was a child, he has always been known as Mwai Kibaki in public.
