Quick recovery Mwai Kibaki, you remain my best president

I have always loved former president Mwai Kibaki since I was a child. He is a humble man, sober minded and he did a lot without talking too much in his tenure as president. 

I particularly like the fact that he did not rush to answer back opposition everytime they critisized his government. 

The transformation he brought to kenya is incomparable despite Kenya being a country with massive corruption

After Mwai Kibaki’s 10 years presidency in office, we can rate him as the best president Kenya has had so far.

“The task ahead is enormous, the expectations are high, and the challenges are intimidating. But I know that with your support and cooperation, we shall turn all our problems into opportunities”. These were his words during his swearing in as president in December 2002.

After full recovery, and when he took office, he made sure to fulfil the promises he had made to Kenyans.

The first promise he made sure to fulfil was the Free Primary Education (FPE); before Mwai Kibaki’s presidency, close to two million children had dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. After FPE was implemented those children went back to school, and by the time Kibaki was leaving power, the number of children in schools had risen to 8.6 million compared to the 6.1 million in 2002.

This resulted to the increment of secondary school urbanization from 47 per cent in 2002 to close to 75% in 2012.

You will agree with me that former president Kibaki will be best remembered for infrastructure development in the country. The most visible project is the Ksh 34billion Thika SuperHighway which provides a vital link on the Trans-African Highway that connects Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa. The Highway is one of the gateways to vision 2030 to the northern Kenya region and neighboring countries, Ethopia and Somalia.

President Kibaki also instated the construction of the Tubi-Moyale road, which completed the process of having the first tarmac road that run from Isiolo to Moyale.

Other outstanding projects include the Arusha-Namanga-Athi River project and the Arusha-Taveta-Voi road which is important for cross-border movement of tourists, exports and imports between Kenya and Tanzania.

On the railway side; Kibaki opened the Syokimau commuter railway station. Kibaki’s government also started talks with donors for the construction of the Standard Gauge railway from Mombasa to Kisumu.

This means that the SGR project was the idea of Kibaki and Uhuru is only implementing it.

The growth of any country depends on the comfort of women and youth. Kibaki seemed to know this very well and that is why he had the interest of the women and the youth at heart. He started the Women Enterprise Fund and the Youth Enterprise fund which saw parastatals and learning institutions giving support to budding Women and youth enterprises by giving them business.

Women are given subsidized loans to start or expand existing businesses. To date approximately 500,000 women have access to these funds since its commencement, which help them start and expand businesses.

The youth fund has disbursed more than 6.5 billion to more than 150,000 youth enterprises. The YEF has also offered training to over 200,000 youths in entrepreneurship in collaboration with other partners. The fund has also supported 2000 youths to market their products both locally and internationally.

Another major highlight of the Kibaki administration is the Vision 2030. Vision 2030 is an economic blue print which replaced the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation in 2007. Its five pillars seek to transform Kenya into a newly industrialized, middle-income nation that provides a high quality of life to its citizens by 2030.

During Kibaki’s reign, electricity connectivity increased from 600,000 in 2003 to 2.11 million in 2012. In 2002 there were 10 energy centers in the country and these have been increased to 15.

President Kibaki’s 10-year rule ended in April 9 2013 when he handed it over to President Uhuru Kenyatta. President Kenyatta is trying hard to follow the footsteps of Kibaki, but he still has a long way to go.

These are just but a few achievements that Kibaki attained during his rule, no other president has been able to perfume better than him, and this is why we will miss him as our president. I wish him quick recovery as we put him in our prayers.