Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka speaking at the launch of Mwai Kibaki Annual Memorial Lecture, Serena hotel, Nairobi on April 11, 2025. /HANDOUTWiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has said the country will continue to honour former President Mwai Kibaki for the new constitution.
Kalonzo said that learning that a group of Kenyans had launched the Mwai Kibaki Annual Memorial Lecture warmed his heart.
The beinnial lecture is aimed at keeping the memory and ideas of the former President alive.
Kibaki was Kenya's third President and ruled from December 2002 to March 2013.
Kalonzo said the annual event is a befitting endeavour worthy of the icon the country honours and the yardstick against which to judge any Kenyan leader.
The former VP was among friends and family who graced the inaugural lecture at the Nairobi Serena hotel.
Kalonzo said Kenya has President Kibaki to thank and owes him a debt of gratitude for the new constitution.
He said the 2010 constitution is heralded as one of the most progressive constitutions in Africa, if not the world.
“It is this constitution that now, more than ever, holds the fabric of our nation together at these grave and perilous times,” he said.
Kalonzo went down memory lane and spoke of the times he shared with Kibaki and detailed how he gained interest to work with the former President.
“I first met Mwai Kibaki when I was elected in 1985 to serve the people of what was then known as the Kitui North constituency following a by-election. I was young and he was the Vice President of the Republic of Kenya and Minister for Home Affairs," he said.
"I was a greenhorn and Kibaki had been feted not just nationally but internationally as the Finance Minister who steered our economy with sound fiscal discipline for over 13 years during the First Republic.”
Kalonzo said that in 1974, TIME magazine named Kibaki in the Top 100 people in the world with the potential to lead.
Kalonzo said the TIME editors had foresight and belief in Kibaki, perhaps even more than Kenyans themselves.
The Wiper leader said that 28 years after that heralded article, Mwai Kibaki took the oath of Office as the President of Kenya.
“When the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) won the December 27, 2002 General Election, President Kibaki appointed me as his first Minister for Foreign Affairs. Our relationship became more personal,” he said.
It is that forge of trust and faith, Kalonzo said, that allowed President Kibaki to reach out to his party, ODM-Kenya, in a bid to save and rescue the nation following the 2007 post-election 2007 violence.
“Together, we formed what was the first coalition and first negotiated position in the name of the Office of the Vice President. I then had the honour and privilege to be sworn in as the tenth Vice President of the Republic of Kenya on January 9, 2008,” Kalonzo said.
One of his most poignant qualities was his ability to re-steer the constitutional ambition, Kalonzo said.
According to Kalonzo, less than five years from the defeat by the people of the Wako Constitutional Draft at the November 2005 Referendum, President Kibaki promulgated the 2010 Constitution of Kenya on August 27, 2010.
While emphasising the need for the country to preserve the sanctity of the constitution, the Wiper leader condemned the acts that saw Butere Girls fail to perform their ‘Echoes of War’ play at this year's National Drama Festival.
“Yesterday, Kenya and the world witnessed the most egregious assault on democracy, when security agents lobbed teargas at young students of Butere Girls High School, members of the press at the National Drama Festival in Nakuru,” he said.
Kalonzo termed it as an act of criminality against basic values of common decency.
“It is a direct assault to our democracy and rights of Kenyans, as enshrined in our Constitution."
He said under Article 33 of the constitution, every person has the right to freedom of expression — a right that includes the guarantee for the Butere Girls to perform their play without fear or intimidation.
The Wiper leader said that Butere Girl’s artistic expression is protected by law.
“Let it be known today as we honour President Kibaki who promulgated our sacred document 15 years ago on August 27, 2010 that we will continue to defend the constitution, we will protect all Kenyans freedoms and rights, and we will not be silenced. Not today, not now, not ever.”
