When former President Mwai Kibaki announced part of his new cabinet on Tuesday, January 8, 2008, no one really knew that the country’s administration was going to metamorphosise into a coalition government.
Instead of announcing a full cabinet, President Kibaki only read the names of Kalonzo Muyoka as Vice President, Amos Kimunya (Ministry of Finance) and Martha Karua (Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs).
Amid a political crisis that claimed over 1,000 lives in a Post-election Violence, Kibaki noted, "I have considered the importance of keeping the country united, peaceful and prosperous under a strong, broad-based leadership."
Eleven years later, Kibaki’s 2008 televised address to the nation still remains one of the most memorable moments in Kenya’s history.
Kalonzo Musyoka
The least expected person on the list of cabinet appointments was Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, who ran against Kibaki for president and came a distant third behind Kibaki and his main rival Raila Odinga.
As Vice President, Kalonzo knew and religiously guarded his space in Kibaki’s government, and without fear of contradiction – sometimes Kalonzo had to fight for his small ‘Kupitia kati kati corridor’.
Towards the end of the Party of National Unity (PNU) regime's reign in 2012, Kalonzo teamed up with Raila Odinga to inherit Kibaki’s rich legacy that rode on the back of a coalition government.
In the end, Kalonzo and Raila were whopped by the Jubilee Coalition which was made up of former President Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto.
Kalonzo then retreated to the life of activism that comes with the responsibilities of being an unofficial member of the opposition.
Kalonzo and Raila have been the closest political allies since 2012, and it’s expected that Musyoka will inherit Raila’s political base in Nyanza and Western Kenya when he exits the stage.
Amos Kimunya
The then 45-year-old accountant Amos Kimunya served as Kibaki's Finance Minister since Feb. 2006, when he worked tirelessly to push government spending proposals through parliament, where Kibaki's Party of National Unity was the minority after the December 27, 2007 election.
The former Kipipiri MP later lost his ministry position after Grand Regency Scandal, in which he was accused of having engineered an illegal transaction worth Ksh9 billion.
In 2012, Kimunya lost his parliamentary seat, and resorted to farming and private practice as an Accountant.
Kimunya returned to Parliament after the 2017 General Election and held several positions including National Assembly Majority Leader but as fate would have it, he once again lost his Kipipiri seat 2022, and is currently battling court cases from past scandals.
Martha Karua
Even though some twenty of Kibaki's ministers lost their seats in the 2007 parliamentary poll, held the same day as a presidential ballot that the opposition accused Kibaki of rigging, one minister remained unscathed.
Martha Karua is the true definition of an iron lady! She is remembered for standing by Kibaki at a time when the country was on the brink of precipices.
The 65-year-old Karua later contested the 2013 presidential election and lost, after which she went into private practice.
Kenya’s 2010 constitution barred presidential contenders from simultaneously seeking a parliamentary seat, as such, Karua never found herself in Parliament as an MP again.
She had to give up her interest in her somewhat safe Gichugu seat, with the potential risk of being cast out of politics altogether.
Karua then entered private law practice, which she still does to date, even after losing the 2022 presidential election.
Karua made history on June 3, 2022, when Raila Odinga named her as his running mate which made her the first woman in Kenyan history to become the running mate of a major political party.
She considers herself a national patriot and is still very outspoken on Twitter.
