President Kibaki's Health

You Don't Look Well Mr President

Shortly before the Kibaki administration started earning the name "crisis" as its' middle name, the influential Economist carried an interesting article detailing wild drinking sessions at State House. The report attracted a lot of interest from the public and the usually slow selling international magazine quickly sold out in the streets of Nairobi. (Or did State House staff purchase all copies?)

It is a well-known fact that the President prior to being elected loved his beer (just like many old men his age, including my father. The big difference is that my dad is retired and does not hold any public office.)

This issue of drinking and the President's health is an issue that The Weekly Citizen tried to bring out. The entire staffs were quickly arrested and the case is still pending in court. Meaning that this is an extremely sensitive issue at State House.

Still the facts cannot be ignored. President Kibaki was involved in a very serious road accident shortly before the 2002 general elections. In fact early in his presidency he was re-admitted at the Nairobi Hospital for a number of days. It was rumored that he had suffered a mild stroke.

The pressure that the President has had to face in the last few months has been enormous. And the pressure does not stop on the political front, President Kibaki has had to contend with what looks like a long-standing family rift between First lady Lucy Kibaki and his other wife, Wambui wa Mwai. Lucky is the man who comes from pressure in the office to a relaxing atmosphere at home. Imagine the man who steps from one war zone into another!!

We saw President Moi rapidly age after 1991 before our very eyes with the re-introduction of multi-party politics. And don't forget that Moi was a much fitter and healthier man. He has always been a teetotaler who has stuck to an amazingly healthy diet that includes plenty of milk and brown porridge for years. A friend of this blogger who had lunch at State House with the President once remembers how Moi loved his brown Ugali. It is no secret that even now Moi is much fitter than the younger Kibaki.

Moi was lucky in that he had many years that cushioned him before the re-introduction of multi-party politics. President Kibaki moved into State House while still recovering from a serious road accident. And then he had previously been leader of the opposition running a sleepy DP political party. You be the judge as to what the possible current state of his health could possibly be.

Well, photographs don't lie. And recent photographs of the aging President with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete were far from flattering. It looks like our President has lost a lot of weight, which has had the effect of exaggerating his potbelly. Or is his pot belly evidence of a current regime of heavy beer drinking? If this were true, would you really blame him?

The President has not announced officially whether he is seeking re-election but those close to him including first lady Lucy Kibaki are on record as saying that he will be in the race for re-election. That is his democratic right but a very bad idea indeed. It is an example of an individual putting their personal interests ahead of national interests, (which is really the story of Kenyan politics since independence). If the President were to for example step aside from the 2007 race for State House, it would go a long way in helping to cool the current political temperatures in the country heightened by the November 2005 national referendum on the new constitution.

Besides the current problems in Kenya need handling by a much younger, more energetic new-ideas-Kenyan.

It would also be best for the President's health, which should surely be more important than any other personal ambitions he may have.

(See election 2007 predictions)