At the state funeral and requiem mass at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi on Friday, visiting leaders described him as a great statesman who helped stabilise both his country and the region. African leaders have paid their tributes to Kenya’s former president Mwai Kibaki who will be buried this Saturday.
‘Great statesman’
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africans admired Kibaki’s leadership qualities, equating it to the reforms under Nelson Mandela after apartheid.
The body of former President Mwai Kibaki will this morning be escorted from Lee Funeral Home to State House where a guard of honour will be mounted one last time in the place he called home for 10 years.
At 9am, the procession will depart State House for Nyayo National Stadium, where the state funeral will be held in his honour ahead of burial at his Othaya home tomorrow.
The six-hour send-off programme for Kenya’s third President will be a largely military affair.
Given that Kibaki was Catholic, the Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Philip Anyolo, assisted by Archbishop Martin Kivuva.
Foreign leaders, including South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa are expected to arrive at 10.20am for the ceremony to pay tribute to Kibaki who died last Friday, aged 90.
“We are collectively here to celebrate the life of a great statesman,” saying he hoped Kenyans “remember president Kibaki for what he stood for.”
“We drew a lot of lessons for the way he led the people of Kenya.”
President Ramaphosa, who took over from Thabo Mbeki in 2018, was one of top African political leaders who attended the ceremony. Others were South Sudan’s Salva Kiir and Ethiopia’s Sahle-Work Zewde.
Source: The East African
Mwai Kibaki’s body arrives at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi, for the funeral service on April 29, 2022.
The Ethiopian Herald 1 May 2022
