• The Azimio flagbearer said opportunists took advantage of Kibaki's ill health, frustrated implementation of their MOU on power sharing.
• He said Kibaki refused to let his cronies change his mind and scrap the agreement spearheaded by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
ODM leader Raila Odinga on Friday recalled how "opportunists" took advantage of President Mwai Kibaki's ill health to wreck their 2002 MoU.
Describing Kibaki as "a gentleman, a man of conviction and a man who loved perfection", Raila said he never held it against Kibaki because the MoU on power-sharing collapsed.
Raila spoke at the Nyayo National Stadium during Kibaki's funeral Mass.
"Of course we have also had our differences. When Kibaki was involved in an accident, other opportunists took advantage...we never held it against Kibaki,"Raila said.
The MoU was to see Raila become Prime Minister with several LDP bigwigs who supported Kibaki getting lucrative slots.
However, Kibaki's close associates who came to be known as the Mt Kenya Mafia frustrated the implementation of the deal.
Raila said Kibaki was instrumental in ending the impasse which followed after their peace talks collapsed at Serena.
The Azimio presidential candidate recalled how Kibaki told off cronies who attempted to reverse the agreement reached in talks spearheaded by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
“The other people wanted to come into the room to persuade him not to agree and he refused. We came out and shook hands.
"He kept his word. Indeed, there were differences, but we resolved them amicably,” Raila said.
He eulogised Kibaki as a man who stood by his word and was never swayed, though his allies attempted to change his mind for their own interests.
Raila described Kibaki as a great Kenyan patriot "whose value will be known with time"
The ODM leader also revealed that Kibaki was one of his advisers. “In many ways, the late Mwai Kibaki was an adviser to me. We remained friends during his retirement.
“So, I have truly lost a friend. Kenya has lost a true patriot, a great leader whose value will only be known with time,” Raila said.
The Azimio presidential flagbearer said the country’s leaders have a lot to learn from Kibaki’s style of leadership.
“He was a gentleman par excellence, gave ministers a lot of authority and power around their ministries as long as graft was not part of it,” he said.
Raila, who has also been campaigning against corruption, hailed Kibaki as an enemy of corruption and who spared no one linked to graft.
He said Kibaki worked well with them as a leader during his days in the opposition and even after forming the government that succeeded the Daniel Moi regime.
The ODM leader praised Kibaki for transforming the country’s economy when it was limping after blunders by the Moi regime.
"The economy was rising at seven per cent a year after Kibaki took over," he said.
Raila assured the Kibaki family of his support "in this very sad moment".
He said Kibaki loved his country and abandoned a well-paying lecturer's job at Makerere University to serve as Kanu executive at the request of Raila's father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Kibaki was introduced to Jaramogi by Ugandan presidential hopeful Milton Obote after drawing up a "beautiful manifesto", Raila said.
He said Kibaki exhibited excellence as MP for Donholm, minister for Commerce and Industry, Finance Minister, Vice President, Opposition leader and later as President.
“He would discuss the budget and come up with an eloquent exposition of the budget, better than Finance ministers who served then.
"He would tell you how people didn’t know what they are doing,” Raila quipped.
(Edited by V. Graham)