First Lady of Kenya

Lucy Kibaki, First Lady of Kenya

Lucy Muthoni Kibaki is the wife of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, making her the First Lady of Kenya.

She was born in Mukurwe-ini in 1940 to the Rev. John Kagai and Rose Nyachomba, in the Mount Kenya. She was trained as a teacher, and rose up to the post of principal in a teacher-training college in Kiambu.

She met Mwai Kibaki in 1960, and they were married in 1962. The couple has four children: Judy Wanjiku, Jimmy Kibaki, David Kagai, and Tony Githinji. Mrs. Kibaki is a patron of the Kenya Girl Guides Association.

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 (publishers of The Daily Nation, a Kenyan newspaper) with six bodyguards, after taking issue with the paper’s reporting of her disagreements with Abdoulaye Makhtar Diop, the then-outgoing World Bank Director for Senegal.

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.

On 12 December 2007 she slapped a government official who confused her name with that of Mary Wambui, a woman who has been reported as being the president’s second wife. Lucy Kibaki slapped the Government Principle Administrative Secretary after he referred to her as “Wambui” during a presidential awards ceremony, independent NTV reported.

The Government Principal Administrative Secretary, Francis Musyimi, immediately stopped officiating at the ceremony at the State House in Nairobi and was whisked away by the security force, NTV. Musyimi doubles as the Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet.

In January 2008, a Kenyan Member of Parliament for Imenti Central Gitobu Imanyara accused Lucy Kibaki of assault and threatened to move to court to sue The First Lady over the alleged incident. She quickly denied the allegations, accusing Imanyara of attempted blackmail after failing to secure the deputy Speaker’s seat during the elections in Parliament.

Mrs Kibaki is known for supporting disadvantaged and disabled people.