Kibaki's Private Secretary Dismisses Reports That the Former President is Hospitalized

Mwai Kibaki’s private secretary Ngari Gituku has dismissed reports that the former President is admitted to the hospital.

The Star on Monday reported that Kibaki was under the care of a team of doctors at the Nairobi Hospital’s VIP wing for the past 10 days over abdominal pain.

The local daily added that the medics were managing the pain ostensibly caused by an infection.

“Samples were taken for testing in the lab. The results are out and nothing to worry about. His team of doctors is managing the pain,” The Star quoted a source.

But in a statement on Tuesday, Gituku confirmed that Kibaki, 88, recently visited the hospital for a routine checkup that did not require admission. He dismissed the reports of Kibaki’s admission as “gross exaggeration, hollow and baseless.”

“I am reading some quarters saying that he has been in the hospital for 10 days. That is far-fetched. It is completely hollow and far from the truth. I think it is time as Kenyans we also stopped being too intrusive on some of these things that are private, especially one’s health,” Gituku said.

“It is normal and a routine thing for all of us to go to the hospital, and so is the case with His Excellency. We should not make it like it is abnormal. But on talk that he is admitted and has been there for 10 days that is a gross exaggeration. He visited the hospital and went home,” he added.