For more than two decades, former Nyeri Town MP Wanyiri Kihoro hoped President Mwai Kibaki would extend an olive branch and restore their lost friendship.
Brought together during the struggle for multiparty democracy in 1992 that saw the birth of the Democratic Party, Mr Kihoro said Mr Kibaki was a refined gentleman but he failed him as a friend.
They had rekindled their friendship on numerous occasions in the spirit of working together to make Kenya better, with two incidents standing out for Mr Kihoro. He fondly recalls when the late President travelled to London, where he was in exile, in a quest to start a “political friendship”.
The body of the late former president Mwai Kibaki arrives at State House Nairobi on April 29, 2022 ahead of state funeral service at Nyayo stadium.
The sequel was when Mr Kihoro became the first Nyeri Town MP on a DP ticket and rallied resources and campaigned for Mr Kibaki’s presidential bid. He donated Sh16 million to the campaign in 2002.
Three weeks after Kibaki won, the former MP’s wife Wanjiru Kihoro was involved in a plane crash in Busia during a homecoming event for former vice-president Moody Awori.
Others in the plane included Martha Karua, Martha Koome, Raphael Tuju and Linah Kilimo. The crash claimed the lives of two other people.
Ms Kihoro was in a coma for three and a half years and was treated at Kenyatta National Hospital and Nairobi Hospital before she died.
Ms Kihoro was one of the key strategists who contributed to Kibaki’s 2002 win, but Mr Kihoro said the late President never visited her in hospital.
“He should have gone to the hospital… he should have shown that friendship a bit of humanity. He never called me or sent any message from State House and nobody could have stopped it but he did not have the time and that is the main reason I will not be attending his funeral,” he said.
He also noted that the only time the former president reached out to him was when his wife was about to be buried.
“I told him not to come to my wife’s funeral because when someone is dead all they are bringing is flowers. I needed him when my wife was alive… he abandoned me at my hour of need,” he said.
Even as people describe Mr Kibaki as a man who never got angry, Mr Kihoro said the former President once kicked him out of his office.
He recalled that during campaigns in the run-up to the 2002 General Election, Mr Kibaki formed a political caucus of MPs from the GEMA community in the Democratic Party.
Wanyiri Kihoro. He says the only time the former president reached out to him was when his wife was about to be buried.
They held several meetings in Embu and Meru but Mr Kihoro did not attend any of the gatherings, whose sole intention was to affirm that DP was not Kanu.
“I did not show up for any of the meetings and Moi was keeping an eye on them to a point that some legislators were arrested. I was touted as the enemy within and accused of derailing the DP agenda. Kibaki got angry with me,” he said.
He added that when he met the former President to explain why he could not attend the meetings, he ordered him out of his office.
“I was shocked because all along people said he was calm and understanding. But even before I could explain my point, he kicked me out of his office,” Mr Kihoro said. BY DAILY NATION