Machakos Governor and former government spokesperson, Dr. Alfred Mutua recalls his time in office under the late President Kibaki’s administration.
The governor served under late Mwai Kibaki’s regime for 10 years from 2002 to 2012. He described the departed Head of State as a “perfect gentleman” who was keen to eradicate negative ethnicity in his government.
According to Dr. Alfred Mutua, who was speaking at Citizen TV’s Day Break Show early Wednesday morning, President Kibaki did not allow the use of local languages in office and would become visibly upset – a rare occurrence – whenever someone violated the policy.
“Kibaki was a perfect gentleman in terms of running the government, he never allowed the use of mother tongue in government offices,”
Said Mutua.
“There was one time a cabinet minister in a meeting switched to Kikuyu and he was so angry that he banged the table and said ‘This is a government office, not your home or village!! Here we speak English or Swahili’.”
“Even his kids, when they came to see him they spoke to him in English at the office. He demystified the whole tribal thing, there was no Kikuyu spoke in the State House.”
Dr. Alfred Mutua described the late Mwai Kibaki as an even-tempered individual, as he recalled that was one of the instances when he had seen the late President angry.
“The other time was when he reprimanded one minister who had spoken ill about another minister because he did not have space for childish squabbling,”
Said the governor.
“He was cool, at times you could see that he was not happy about something but he kept quiet.”
Mutua shared his working relationship with the former President, he characterized Kibaki as a leader who trusted in the government processes and gave his team the time to carry out their tasks.
“He gave us a free hand… we shared with him, had State-of-the-Nation meetings but sometimes with issuing statements he didn’t have to clear everything, he trusted the government systems.”
In a televised midday address at the State House, Nairobi, President Kenyatta broke the news of the former President’s death and further directed that the country would be in a mourning state until the sunset of the day he is rested on the earth.
President Kibaki’s body has been lying at Parliament buildings since Monday for public viewing. Today, Wednesday, April 27th, is the last day the president’s body will be available to Kenyans for public viewing.
Thereafter, preparations will be made for the State funeral service scheduled to be at Nyayo Stadium. On Saturday, there will be a state burial service at his home in Othaya, Nyeri County.
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