Tribalism is finishing the country. Kenya had 10 wasted years under Kibaki in which the economy grew at a paltry 4% while all the neighbours grew at kitu 7%. If tribalism was insignificant like it is in Tanzania or even Uganda, we would have highly competent presidential candidates even as far back as 1963. But we still dont learn.

As someone has said above, Tanzania will pass Kenya during our lifetimes because even 20 years from now, Kenya will still be a tribal society.

I havent a tribal agenda. But if you look at things objectively, Kibaki should never have been elected. He was a lousy cabinet minister. He was a lousy VP which is why Moi demoted him. And as President he did literally nothing. Plus he presided over one corruption scandal after another. And as has been correctly pointed out here, corruption is the number one enemy of Kenya's economy. Ultimately the buck stops with the president to stop corruption. But Kibaki never bothered.

If Kenya was not a tribal society then the people in leadership would have been people like Ronald Ngala, Tom Mboya, Pio Gama Pinto, JM Kariuki, Robert Ouko, Masinde Muliro.......... I.E hardworking leaders who have a nationalistic outlook and put the country first. Instead these leaders were wasted and people cheered or remained indifferent because they were told that tribal interests were more important and said leader had to be eliminated.

But since Kenya is a tribal society , we only vote for tribal chiefs who promote narrow tribal interests. We think first and foremost about what is good for the tribe instead of thinking about whats good for your individual bank account.

You can't possibly say with a straight face that Kibaki was good for Kenya. The truth is bitter but Kenyans must face up to the truth or continue lagging behind Ethiopia and now Tanzania. We cant keep white-washing our history.

Unless we learn to hold leaders accountable regardless of tribe, we are doomed. If corruption is the #1 enemy and a president does not address it and we still support him then Kenya is full of tribal sycophants.

Thats why I highly respect leaders like the late Rev Kipsang Muge and JM Kariuki who challenged their presidents on corruption even while risking being called a traitor.

Kenya's GDP growth grew at a much slower rate than all the neighbors. That is the point of this thread. Countries like Ethiopia , Rwanda , Mozambique also had negative growth then went to growth rates of almost 10%

I say wasted years because Kibaki really had a good opportunity and a lot of goodwill to rectify the Nyayo error : In 2002, virtually the whole country was united behind Kibaki. No kenyan President has ever been elected with as much goodwill as Kibaki was in 2002.

But he wasted the opportunity to fight tribalism and deal with corruption. Instead of continuing the spirit of Unity that got him elected in 2002, he went back to his tribal cocoon and once again the country was split along tribal lines.

The 1990s were not just wasted years. Those were years of suffocation.

I choose to ignore alba with all due respect. Baks remains the best finance minister this country ever had. Rudi shule usome kaka. I really hate liars.

Kibaki was somewhat tragic. He simultaneously had what we needed (an economist) and what we did not need (tribalism and poor political strategy). Still, he was one of if not the best option among those presented to the electorate both in 2002 and 2007. You cannot be elected president if you do not offer yourself. And by the way, I do not buy into the narrative that a superstar private sector CEO will necessarily make a good president.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Tribalism and poor political sense is Kibaki's legacy. But so is economic transformation. From virtually 0%, it took us 5 years to get to 7.1% when we were growing almost at par with Ethiopia. Then PEV happened, knocked us off that momentum and we have never fully recovered. Ethiopia overtook us in 2009.

Kibaki was elitist and perhaps uncomfortable with constant frenzied public rallies to announce his achievements. That though is not reason to take away from his positives. He made some fatal mistakes the most prominent being insensitivity to tribe dynamics. But several good things happened during his tenure whose impact will continue to be felt for decades to come e.g. education, roads, electricity, telecoms, banking, vision 2030 blueprint, the 2010 constitution etc.

That said, we obviously can do better.