Raila 'told' envoy Kibaki relied on medication

By Standard ReporterPresident Kibaki’s health during his first term in office was fodder for rumour mills and the opposition.
It also appears that it was a priority topic for the American diplomats in Nairobi, as it cropped up whenever they met leading opposition figures who hoped to unseat Kibaki in 2007.
How Kibaki’s health was discussed by politicians at dinner tables with US diplomats has been revealed by whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
The latest politicians whose speculation on Kibaki’s health to be revealed is Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is said to have claimed in 2007 that Kibaki could not appear in public without being medicated.
"Odinga insisted Kibaki could not appear in public without being medicated, and shuts down when the drugs wear off," said an account of a meeting that US Ambassador Michael Ranneberger had with Raila who was then in opposition party ODM-Kenya together with now Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka.
In the same cable, Kalonzo is quoted to have said that even though Kibaki’s health had improved "the President suffered from memory loss".
In an earlier cable, Kalonzo was quoted requesting the US diplomats to ask then American President George Bush to convince Kibaki not to seek re-election on account of his health. Kalonzo has since denied the contents of the previous cable.
Raila and Kalonzo’s speculation about Kibaki’s health seemed to be in sharp contrast to how Attorney General Amos Wako saw the man he served as chief legal advisor.
Wako described Kibaki as a President who is "in meetings until 11pm", and keeps a "punishing schedule".
Gachoka MP, Mutava Musyimi also described Kibaki as a "formidable man and an economist to the core". He was at the time not yet MP.