Imagine if the late Mwai Kibaki was not a politician and a President but a retired Kenya Defence Forces soldier.
For that was his dream career after high school, which was never to be as the chief colonial secretary, Walter Coutts, had issued an order that people from the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru be barred from joining the military owing to the risk they carried in promoting dissidence.
Instead of the military route, Kibaki, who died on April 22 aged 90 , launched his earning life as an economics lecturer at Makerere University in 1960, but he was indoctrinated into politics and became an executive officer of Kenya African National Union (Kanu).
He studied economics, history and political science at Makerere and was chairman of the Kenya Students' Association there.
In 1955, he graduated as the best student in his class and was awarded a scholarship to continue his studies in the United Kingdom, obtaining a bachelor of science degree with distinction in public finance from the London School of Economics.
President Mwai Kibaki inspects a guard of honour during a passing out at the Recruits Training School, Moi Barracks in Eldoret on November 18, 2009
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
In the 1963 elections, he contested the parliamentary seat for Donholm constituency (subsequently called Bahati and now Makadara) in Nairobi to launch his career in active electoral politics.
He was to remain in Parliament throughout his political career that ended in 2013, when Mr Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in as the fourth President.
Mr Kibaki served as assistant minister for Finance and chairman of the Economic Planning Commission in 1963 before he was elevated to minister of Commerce and Industry in 1966.
In 1974, Time magazine rated Kibaki among the top 100 people in the world who had the potential to lead – and the evaluation was proved by time to have been spot on.
In 1969, he became minister of Finance and Economic Planning, serving until 1978. Moving his political base from Nairobi to his rural home, he was re-elected to Parliament in 1974 to represent his native Othaya constituency.
He was re-elected in all subsequent elections for the seat, until 2007 when the seat was inherited by Mary Wambui.
President Mwai Kibaki inspects a guard of honour during the opening of the special sitting Parliament in Nairobi March 22, 2011.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Born in Gatuyaini village in Nyeri County on November 15, 1931, Kibaki was the youngest son of Kikuyu peasants Kibaki Githinji and Teresia Wanjiku.
He studied at Gatuyaini, Karima and Mathari primary schools before proceeding to Mang'u High School between 1947 and 1950 where he obtained the maximum possible score in his high school terminal examinations.
His ascent to high office started when Kibaki was elevated in 1978 to vice-president and minister for health.
In December 1991, Kibaki left Kanu and founded the Democratic Party (DP). He contested the presidency in the 1992 General Election and finished third before contesting in the 1997 and finishing second.
In January 1998, Kibaki became the leader of the official opposition, with DP as the official opposition party.
In preparation for the 2002 elections, the party joined with several others to form the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK). NAK allied itself with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to form the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc). On December 27, 2002, Narc won with 62 percent of the votes.
A Catholic faithful, Kibaki married the late Lucy Kibaki and they were blessed with a daughter, Judy Wanjiku, and three sons, Jimmy, David, and Tony.
