Former Kenyan leader, Mwai Kibaki, renowned for a distinguished political career of simplicity and less confrontation, has died at the age of 90.

Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, announced news of his death on Friday, the president described his passing as a sad day for the country and praised him as a great Kenyan and a statesman.

Although Kibaki ushered in economic reforms as Kenya’s president, his political legacy is however threatened by the deadly post-election violence that followed his second presidential term

Kibali, who was a British-educated economist, Kibaki’s became president after four decades as a lawmaker, government minister, and then vice president to his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi.

Kibaki had a lot of political adventures that surrounded him. For instance, Raila Odinga, one of NARC’s leaders at one point, accused Kibaki of violating a secret, pre-election pact that guaranteed Odinga would become prime minister.

Instead, Kibaki appointed Odinga minister for roads, angering his base and sowing the seeds for a bitter showdown between the two that was to spill into violence at the next election in 2007, causing the deaths of 1,250 people.

Kibaki also angered voters by failing to tackle widespread corruption, and his ministers embraced the same corrupt businessmen who had flourished under Moi.

British High Commissioner Edward Clay memorably summed up donors’ view of government graft in a 2004 speech: “Their gluttony causes them to vomit all over our shoes.”

In the heady first days of his administration, Kibaki had appointed John Githongo, a prominent activist, as his anti-graft czar. But Githongo fled to Britain in 2005 after uncovering a multi-million dollar passport printing scam involving senior cabinet ministers. He later became a vociferous critic.