Lucy Kibaki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lucy Kibaki (nee Muthoni) is the controversial wife of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki. She was born in Mukurwe-ini in the 1940s to Rev. John Kagai and Rose Nyachomba, in the Central Province's Mt. Kenya. She was trained as a teacher, and elected principal of a teacher-training college in Kiambu. She first met Mwai Kibaki in 1960 and were married in 1962. Mwai and Lucy have one daughter, Judy Wanjiku, and three sons, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai, and Tony Githinji.

[edit] Diop party

She is known for her independent persona and her temper. In 2005 she received international media attention for storming into the offices of the Nation Media Group, a Kenyan media house, with six bodyguards after taking issue with the paper's reporting of her disagreements with then outgoing World Bank country director Moktar Diop of Senegal.

Lucy Kibaki caused a scene at a late night farewell party held by Diop, who had rented the house from the Kibakis. Lucy Kibaki complained the music was too loud with the band's speakers positioned near her fence. She reportedly insulted Diop by shouting insults about his mother, and that Diop had to be restrained from retaliating. During her 'siege' at the Nation's office, she slapped a local TV cameraman, Cliford Derrick, of NTV, after warning him to stop filming her. Subsequent court proceedings against Lucy Kibaki for the incident were withdrawn by the Attorney General, Amos Wako. Kenyan law allows the AG to take over private proceedings "in the public interest".

In May 2006, she created more controversy by stating that young people in Kenya had "no business" using condoms. Lucy Kibaki called on students at a school prize-giving to abstain from sex in order to avoid infection with HIV. She chairs the Organisation of the 40 African First Ladies Against HIV/Aids. [1]