This is an excerpt from Joe Hamisi’s book Looters and Grabbers.
“KIBAKI’s earliest grab was that of the 1200-acres Gingalily farm, along the Nakuru-Solai road, in 1960s. He also took advantage of his position as finance misniter to allocate himself some 10k acres, in Bahati via the STF (settler transfer fund). He also owns 10k in Laikipia, 10k in Rumiruti and 10k in Raure Ranch” On his efforts in the revival of the country’s economy,after the dethronement of KANU in 2002, anyone who participated killing something, should never claim any credit for rescucitating the same. He was part and parcel of the KANU plunder that brought the country down. It is inaccurate to praise him for reviving an economy that went down under his watch. Remember he was finance minsiter for a decade. If he was dissatisfied with the manner the affairs of the country was being managed, then he ought to have stepped aside, like Bildad Kagia did. Lastly, in his own regime, corruption happened in the same scale as it did in the KANU days. His regime gave us Anglo-Leasing, a NARC’s equivalent of KANU’s Goldenberg. He also squandered an opportunity and the prevailing national mood to unite the country. In 2007/8, the country went up in flames because he refused to hand over power, even after losing in seven of the eight provinces. Millions were displaced, property worth billions destroyed and at least 1500 killed, including some 30 cremated alive in a church in Kiambaa, in Eldoret. Soy market was burnt down 100% and for the first time in history, we saw igloos, like those of eskimos, dot the country’s terrain, in the name of IDP camps. When he left, he bequeathed the state machinery he had used to rig, to Uhuru who used the same to cheat in an election, as he himself had done on 2007. Even as the world mourns Kibaki, we shouldn’t forget his dark side, which also had a huge impact in the country.
