Kenya"s former president, Mwai Kibaki, has died at the age of 90, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced. He was the first leader not from the Kenya African National Union (Kanu), which had ruled for 40 years after independence, and was in power from 2002 to 2013. "Mwai Kibaki earned the abiding respect and affection of the people of this nation," President Kenyatta said in an official proclamation announcing a period of national mourning. "[He] led the charge to keep the ruling party accountable," he continued. Kibaki ended the late President Moi’s more than two decades of rule in 2002 when he took over power as Kenya’s third president. "We remember the values by which he lived, the ideals he embraced, his dignity and diligence, his candor and concern for the well-being of all Kenyans," said President Kenyatta on Friday. "His contributions as minister of finance and vice president saw Kenya"s economy grow steadily fueled by a commodities boom as well as fiscal and monetary policies that were the backbone of his economic philosophy." President Kibaki was the only surviving former president after the second president Daniel Moi died in 2020. Kenyatta announced a period of national mourning in respect of Kibaki who is credited for transforming the country following decades of KANU misrule. “I order and direct that in the testimony of high esteem that all Kenyans held for Mwai Kibaki, the country will hold a period of national mourning until sunset on the day he will be buried. All flags will fly at half-mast during this period,” Kenyatta said. Kibaki is survived by four children: Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagi and Tony Githinji. His career started in the lecture halls of Makerere University and later in KANU as the executive officer. The journey took him to the Treasury as the country’s second Finance minister after James Gichuru, a job that thrust him into the international limelight. Some key projects he initiated during his time at the Treasury include Mumias and Nzoia sugar mills, Webuye Pan Paper, construction of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and the Nairobi-Nakuru-Eldoret-Malaba highway. Kibaki had a bachelor’s degree in economics and boasted a political career spanning two eras — the Jomo Kenyatta and Moi administrations. He took power as third President at the age of 71. — Agencies