The late Mwai Kibaki’s early life

Born on November 15, 1931, in Gatuyaini village in Nyeri County, the late Mwai Kibaki was the youngest of eight children of peasant farmers, Kibaki Githinji and Teresia Wanjiku. 

The late Kibaki who passed on Friday 22 April 2022, was baptised as Emilio Stanley by Italian missionaries in his youth but he has been known as Mwai Kibaki throughout his public life.

He attended Gatuyainĩ School for the first two years, where he completed what was then called Sub “A” and sub “B” which was the equivalent of standard one and two or first and second grade.

The late Kibaki later joined Karima mission school for three more classes of primary school then later moved to Mathari School currently, Nyeri High School between 1944 and 1946 for Standard four to six, where, in addition to his academic studies, he learnt carpentry and masonry as students would repair furniture and provide material for maintaining the school’s buildings.

While in school he earned extra money by growing his own food as all students in the school were expected to do.

Similarly, during the school holidays he worked as a conductor on buses operated by the defunct Othaya African Bus Union.

He proceeded to Mang’u High School where he studied between 1947 and 1950. He passed with a maximum of six points in his “O” level examination ^{by passing six subjects with Grade 1 Distinction.}

His outstanding academic achievement earned him a scholarship at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, where he studied economics, History and Political Science, and graduated best in his class in 1955 with a First Class Honours Degree (BA) in Economics.

After his graduation, Kibaki took up an appointment as Assistant Sales Manager Shell Company of East Africa, Uganda Division. During the same year, he earned a scholarship entitling him to postgraduate studies in any British University.

He consequently enrolled at the London School of Economics for a BSc in public finance, graduating with a distinction. He went back to Makerere in 1958 where he taught as an Assistant Lecturer in the economics department until 1961.

In 1961, Kibaki married Lucy Muthoni, the daughter of a church minister, who was then a secondary school head teacher.

They had four children: Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai, and Tony Githinji.

Lucy Muthoni passed away in 2016 after a short illness.