Mwai Kibaki generated resources such as increased tax revenue collection. Relations with China, Japan and other non-western powers improved and expanded remarkably in the Kibaki years. China and Japan especially, the Asian Tigers such as Malaysia and Singapore, Brazil, the Middle East and to a lesser extent, South Africa, Libya, other African Countries, and even Iran, became increasingly important economic partners. President Kibaki was accused of ruling with a small group of his elderly peers, mainly from the educated side of the Kikuyu elite that emerged in the Kenyatta era, usually referred to as the "Kitchen Cabinet" or the "Mount Kenya Mafia".
Mwai Kibaki "O" level examination by passing six subjects with Grade 1 Distinction. Influenced by the veterans of the First and Second World Wars in his native village, Kibaki considered becoming a soldier in his final year in Mang'u. However, a ruling by the Chief colonial secretary, Walter Coutts, which barred the recruitment of the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru communities into the army, put paid to his military aspirations. Kibaki instead attended Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, where he studied Economics, History and Political Science, and graduated best in his class in 1955 with a First Class Honours Degree (BA) in Economics.