Mwai Kibaki exited the academia world to join politics, he returned to Kenya in 1960 as the Independence preparations got well underway. In March 1960, He became a fundamental player in the crafting of Kenya African National Union (KANU) by becoming its first Executive Officer.

As an Executive Officer Mwai Kibaki was critical in the setting up of the party structures that aided in making it a formidable vehicle to take up the country’s leadership. 

He was also part of the team tasked with writing Kenya’s first constitution. The constitution was instrumental in offering the first set of laws that would govern an independent Kenya in 1963.

In the first pre-independence elections of 1963, Mwai Kibaki contested for a parliamentary seat in Donholm (subsequently called Bahati and now known as Makadara) in Nairobi. In 1974, Kibaki shifted his political constituency to Othaya from Donholm constituency. He has been an MP from 1960 - 2013.