Why Mwai Kibaki detests small talk, loves sleek Mercedes Benzes

 He has no time for walking sticks, reading glasses, hats or trench coats

Dressed in his dark-blue suits, retired President Mwai Kibaki often takes afternoon strolls along pedestrian walkways outside his Muthaiga residence in Nairobi.

Instead of sneakers, he spots his laced black Oxford shoes, the security detail in tow.

Even under a baking sun, the retired president is ever in dark-blue ties, never the red ones preferred by politicians as the colour of power.  

“Kibaki is a creature of habit. That’s why he’s rarely seen in T-shirts or sweaters,” a former golfing buddy familiar with his routine told The Nairobian, when we sought to know how he was doing since being flown to South Africa after a mild stroke caused medical anxiety last year.

Assuring us that the retired president is in good health, our source continued with that small bit about his dressing.

 “You will never see Kibaki in a red tie. He is always in ties of blue shades, just like his suits, which are either blue or gray.”

To elaborate, the friend with whom he shares tea when Kibaki drops in at the Muthaiga Golf Club, explained that the rich or the elite don’t care much about dressing and find no reason to fuss over the colour of their clothes, and that’s why most can buy many suits of one or two different colours, and simpletons think they have only one or two suits.

 While he greets passers-by during his strolls, he rarely engages in small talk.

“He detests small talk that is below his cranium. He prefers highbrow stuff. But don’t try hard to sound too clever, he’s well-grounded himself,” a close family friend intimated to The Nairobian.

Besides sticking to his suits, Kibaki is also still a sucker for riding in sleek limousines, even when his leg joints seem to need a little bit of a raised sitting position.

His staff gripes that the 86-year old still insists on riding  in his Mercedes S600, ignoring suggestions that a Range Rover or other models would be easier on his knees.

Although his towering frame and weight seem to weigh heavily on his pronounced limp suffered from a road accident in the late 2002, ‘Baba Jimmy’ insists on walking, be it from a plane or car. 

Kibaki has a personal dislike for the walking stick, neither will you catch him with reading glasses.

“The man has no time or appetite for retirement paraphernalia like walking sticks, reading glasses, hats or trench coats,” an old colleague said , adding that “he  attends  business board meetings and hosts local and foreign dignitaries at his Mwai Kibaki Foundation offices in Nyari Nairobi, but I have never seen him request, or seem to need a bakora. He is so determined to walk on his two legs, even if he walks slowly. He will stand when making speeches and not lean on a walking stick,” explained an aide.

As a personal principle, Kibaki seeks no publicity and shuns it if he can help it.

This is how he manages to sneak via impromptu visits to the Muthaiga, Limuru and Thika golf clubs, where he shares chats with his old golfing buddies while sipping tea.

 He still insists on riding in his Mercedes S600, ignoring suggestions that a Range Rover or other models would be easier on his knees

Kibaki stopped playing golf after the 2002 accident.

“Even at the golf club, he will never start a conversation that will degenerate into an argument. He thus avoids vexatious people as one is more peaceful that way,” says another family friend who is familiar with his routine.

Besides golfing pals, the original founders of Transcentury Company are the other friends in his orbit.

Sunday is church day and the Consolata Catholic Shrine it is. He keeps time, sits at the front pew with fellow wazee and there is always a spectacle during salamu za amani, as children, all the way from the back pew, make a beeline to shake his hand.

Like their grandpa, Kibaki’s grandchildren often keep out of the limelight “but they’re always part of his life at Muthaiga,” reveals another former golfer of the retired president, adding that although a few people visit Kibaki at his Muthaiga home, he keeps tabs on the few who bring him books and magazines, mostly biographies, memoirs and magazines on economics as “he keeps in touch with what is going on in Kenya and around the world. He is a keen reader of local dailies which he consumes voraciously.”

Kibaki has never granted an interview since retirement, locally or abroad, and neither he nor his immediate family is yet to launch a charitable cause, as is the trend with retired political high fliers.

Aides say he splits his time between attending to family businesses, walking around his hood for exercise, writing his memoirs, reading, and officiating local and international events.

Such is the man Jomo Kenyatta fondly referred to as kamwana ka Nyeri (this youngster from Nyeri), the one politician who hardly wore the trademark jogoo badge on his coat lapel, deeming it a sign of sycophancy to the Kanu regime.

Asked what Kenyans don’t know about their former president, our source in the know said: “He hates praise and platitudes. He is very compassionate and can’t stand to see those he knows suffering. He will help, but would be very cross if it was broadcast. He also has a very deep love for Kenya.”