Mwai Kibaki and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kenya. At his inauguration, he stressed his opposition to government corruption, saying: "Government will no longer be run on the whims of individuals." Thus ended four decades of KANU rule, KANU having hitherto ruled Kenya since independence. Kenya's 2nd President, Daniel Arap Moi, who had been in power for 24 years since 1978 as an African Big man President, also began his retirement. President Kibaki's style was that of a low key publicity averse but highly intelligent and competent technocrat. He, unlike his predecessors, never tried to establish
Forum for the Restoration of Democracy – Asili card and refusal to stand in the 1997 Presidential Elections. Martin Shikuku therefore won the party's presidential nomination and went on to win only 0.6% of the Presidential Vote, with the party winning 1 National Assembly seat. In the 2002 election, Ford-Asili won 2 out of 212 elected seats and did not field a presidential candidate, choosing to support the successful NARC alliance candidate Mwai Kibaki. In 2007, Ford-Asili supported Mwai Kibaki again as presidential candidate, this time under the Party of National Unity banner and won a single parliamentary seat in its own right (Kirinyaga Central - John Kariuki).