Kenya will hold a state funeral next week for former President Mwai Kibaki, who died on Friday at the age of 90, Interior Minister Fred Matiangi said on Saturday.
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Mwai Kibaki was the third head of state in Kenyan history, from December 2002 to April 2013, succeeding 20 years of the authoritarian regime of Daniel arap Moi.
"
The former head of state will be entitled to a state funeral with the highest honors because of the exceptional services he rendered to our country
," said Fred Matiangi.
The former president, whose political career began with Kenya's independence in 1963, will be buried at his home in Othaya in the highlands district of Nyeri on Saturday, he said.
“
The burial ceremony will be preceded by a funeral service on Friday at Nyayo National Stadium
” in Nairobi, and his body will be on display in Parliament from Monday to Wednesday to allow Kenyans to pay their respects to him, the minister said.
Mwai Kibaki, a former economics professor trained in Uganda and London, was elected in 2002 on a promise to fight corruption.
But his decade in power was marked by corruption scandals as well as the worst political violence since independence.
At the end of 2007, his disputed re-election led to violence between Kikuyu and Kalenjin, two of the country's first communities, during which more than 1,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands more displaced.
They are still today a deep wound in the history of Kenya.
However, Kenya has experienced strong economic growth under his governance, notably through its Vision2030 program, taken over by his successor, the current President Uhuru Kenyatta, which has enabled the launch of major infrastructure projects, as well as reforms in the health and education.
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The circumstances of his death have not been made public.
With fluctuating health since a serious car accident in 2002, he had been regularly admitted to hospital in recent years.
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