Kenyan women celebrate Mwai Kibaki, a great African 'feminist' economist

The Women of Kenya remember you and celebrate you.

You were our greatest strength during the political and constitutional struggle.

We considered you our great ally and friend.

We remember you and honour you.

The Women of Kenya will remember you as the one Kenyan President who needed no convincing that Affirmative Action for women’s representation was important. For a great thinker like you, critical mass theory needed no explanation.

You knew it was not only the right thing to do but it was smart politics for smart economics for the nation.

The women of Kenya will remember that during the 2002 Democratic Party elections, you directed Mr Kiraitu Murungi to ensure that the primary elections of the party that did not have at least 30 per cent women’s representation were annulled and repeated.

You refused to listen to the excuses that the party leaders could not find women. You asked “kwani hawa viongozi wanaishi wapi?”

It was the same year when, at Ngong Hills Hotel, you stated that Affirmative Action for women was not for discussion or argument. It was for implementation.

The women of Kenya will remember how, after the 2002 elections, you asked the women who had won elections to consult other women leaders on the critical ministries that women must occupy to bring about change.

We remember that women met at Silver Springs Hotel and were briefed by Mrs Charity Ngilu on your request, and you fulfilled your promise.

You never failed the women of Kenya.

The women of Kenya will remember you giving a presidential directive in 2011 that one third of government's contracts must go to women, youth, and persons with disability. We remember this and wish that those who came after you could have the passion, the wisdom and the vision to implement the directive and raise the economic status of women in society.

You understood that investing in women is the best strategy in transforming Kenyan and African economies. The late Desmond Tutu agreed with you on this. You knew that money in women’s hands took care of the interests of the community – the elderly, the sick, the children and the vulnerable.

The implementation of Access to Government Procurement and Opportunities (AGPO) is one of the most radical directives you gave. Women know that you were a radical thinker who was free from the toxic power of patriarchy.

The women of Kenya will remember your directive as president that all the public institutions should have 30 per cent women’ representation – a directive communicated to the nation through Mr Francis Muthaura. For you, affirmative action for women’s financial and political representation was not for discussion or argument but for implementation. And the movement towards 50 per cent is only a dream deferred but not forgotten.

You had the capacity to separate myth from reality and believe that women and men have equal rights.

You facilitated the making of the 2010 Constitution, which as you know, has been considered as one of the best in the world.

The women of Kenya will remember you for the many steps forward that you facilitated.

We will render you for putting Kenya back on the map.

We shall remember you for ensuring universal education for our children.

The women of Kenya shall remember you as a leader that not even our African traditions, myths and practices could stop from doing what is right for the women.

We shall remember you as that president who, despite being highly schooled in the Western scholarship, could not have his vision for his people diverted by the many interests of East and West.

If China was good for Africa's development, you invited China. You did not need anyone's permission.

You were your own man when it came to Kenya's interests.

Sleep in peace our president

The women of Kenya will celebrate you for breaking the curse of tradition that had kept them outside the mainstream.

Now the mainstream must change, and it is beginning to change.

Rest in peace knowing that your dream of a better, women-friendly Kenya, where citizen's lives will be transformed, and their dreams realised.

We need others like you, focused, visionary and committed to transforming our country and our continent.

Sleep in peace our great president.

The writer a professor of literature, a creative writer and critic