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HISTORY 1884
-1920: Origins of the Kenyan State 1920 - 1963: Building the Colony 1978 -
2002: Daniel arap Moi >  Daniel Toroitich arap Moi
The Nyayo Monument in Nairobi was built in
1988 to mark ten years of Moi's presidency. Note the traditional
elder's ceremonial club at the top. Moi always carried one. |
DANIEL TOROITICH Arap MOIsecond president of the Republic of KenyaDaniel arap Moi served as the second president of Kenya from August 1978 until January 2003 when his term of office ended. Moi took office following the death of Kenya's first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, at Mombasa on August 22 1978.Whereas Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was more of a transitional leader, presiding over change from colonialism to African majority rule, Moi got into power when Kenya had become a truly African state. With time, Moi’s actions and policies came to resemble those of neighboring states from which Kenya had distinguished itself with its relatively sophisticated socio-economic and political structures. Moi’s presidency was a contradiction of sorts: on one hand he craved the awe which Jomo Kenyatta had received from the public. On the other hand, he wanted to be different from Kenyatta, by being more in touch with the average man in the village. When he assumed the reigns of government, Moi started traveling in a Volkswagen Kombi, raising eyebrows. As it was argued, such types of conveyance are for ordinary folk, but not the people of the caliber and position of President Moi. However, the President was determined to get to the people. The Kombi was the only vehicle which could grapple with the country's difficult terrain - dusty roads, hairpin bends, precarious cliffs, unbeaten tracks. One time, while on his way from Kisumu to Nakuru, Moi expressed the wish to use a short-cut from Sondu through Sigowet to Kericho town. His aides condemned the route as impassable. "Are there people living in the area where this road passes?" he asked and declared he had to tackle the road, passable or otherwise (Njiru, 1997). Moi's tendency to relate with the common man was a result of his oirigins. Born in 1924 among the Tugen people of the larger Kalenjin ethnic grouping, his early life in Sacho location of Baringo District was nothing out of the ordinary. He herded the family livestock just like other boys. Moi's father died when he was only two and his upbringing was left to his mother, Kimoi Chebi, and his brother, Tuitoek. It was Tuitoek who advised the young Toroitich Moi to go to school in order to escape poverty in the village (Kenya Times, 1997). Moi started school in 1934 at the African Inland Mission School at Kabartonjo in North Baringo. He was baptized, Daniel, in 1936. Later, he went to another African Inland Mission school at Kapsabet in 1938 then on to the Government African School still in Kapsabet. At that school, Moi was a prefect and football team captain. The future president worked as a teacher after schooling. He was promoted to the rank of P2 in 1949 after attending a brief course at Kagumo on disciplining pupil-teachers and was then transferred to the Government African School in Tambach. In 1950, he attended a course as a teacher at the Jeans School, Kabete which later became the Kenya Institute of Administration. He taught at Tambach until he was appointed to the Legislative Council (LegCo) in 1955 as African representative for Rift Valley province. At the time, there were only 8 African representatives in the Council which was the equivalent of National parliament. Moi was sympathetic to the African struggle for Independence though, obviously, not in a militaristic manner. He assisted various freedom fighters at his home in the Rift Valley. He also developed strong links with Jomo Kenyatta. The colonial authorities warned Moi against associating with Kenyatta but he ignored those warnings and visited Kenyatta in Lodwar, taking to Mzee such farm produce as potatoes, peas and cabbages (Kenya Times, 1997). On Kenya's independence in 1963 and Kenyatta's accession first to the post of Prime Minister then to President, the two men worked together. Moi's Kenya African Democratic Union party (KADU) merged with Kenyatta's Kenya African National Union (KANU) to create a giant national party - KANU. Moi served as Minister in the post-independence government before his appointment as Vice President in 1967. Moi always deferred to Kenyatta's authority and never gave any hint of ambition to higher office. Thus, he remained Vice President for 11 years and was at a vantage position to the presidency upon the death of Mzee in 1978. Soon after ascending to the presidency on 14th October 1978, Moi pledged to maintain the stability that Kenya had enjoyed since independence. He sought to assure apprehensive citizens, investors and diplomats that he would follow the footsteps of Mzee Kenyatta. But it soon became clear that Moi had his own ideas on how the country should be run. Whereas Kenyatta practiced a hands-off style of leadership, delegating authority to his appointees, Moi preferred hands-on management. He famously said, "Those who want to lead the country must wait their turn ... I am the President and every minister must sing like a parrot to whatever I say." While emphasizing on national unity, just like his predecessor, Moi also emphasized on the need for dynamism in the face of a globalizing world. Moi can be credited for mustering the strength to introduce changes that would have been virtually impossible under the Kenyatta era. Moi’s critics say many of the changes he attempted were expensive experiments culminating in failure. However, Moi’s critics are mostly Kenyattaists and had they been in power, the country would have petrified in stagnation. The fact that some of Moi’s programmes did not succeed could be attributed to deliberate or inadvertent sabotage by Kenyatta loyalists inherited by Moi’s administration. Once Moi was out of office early 2003 and with current President Mwai Kibaki's electoral victory, the old Kenyattaists were back into government. President Kibaki, himself a Kenyattaist, approved cabinet decisions that set about reversing 24 years of Moi’s presidency. As a measure of how far the old Kenyattaists were willing to pursue this desire, the Central Bank of Kenya was ordered to replace Moi’s portrait on Kenya’s currency notes with that of Mzee Kenyatta. In the presidency, Moi’s first decision was to release political detainees from the Kenyatta era. These were politicians, academics, university students and journalists detained for criticizing Kenyatta’s government. Several of them had been in detention so long that they were in a critical health condition requiring advanced medical treatment. Moi personally paid travel and medical fees for a particular politician who sought hospitalization in Sweden. Top During Kenyatta’s presidency, the civil service, security forces and state corporations came to be dominated by members of Kenyatta’s tribe, the Kikuyu. This was not necessarily a deliberate policy on his part but a product of historical circumstances that put the Kikuyu at an advantage in terms of education levels and work skills. Moi set about creating ethnic balance in government organs by appointing more people from other communities. Eventually, though, members of Moi’s Kalenjin tribe came to dominate the civil service and this evoked resentment among other Kenyans. Unlike Kenyatta’s appointees who were mostly qualified for the positions, Moi’s tribesmen had little experience and training for their new jobs making incompetence a hallmark of the Moi era. Matters were worsened by Moi’s tendency of picking individuals from lowly positions, transforming them into overnight power brokers and later dumping them when they became too “big-headed” for their own usefulness. Because of this, it was said that Moi had neither permanent friends nor permanent enemies. He was loyal to nobody but himself - a true Machiavellian characteristic. Moi’s most serious – and potentially fatal - political challenge was the coup attempt of 1st August 1982. The poorly planned coup attempt by junior officers of the Kenya Airforce was crushed by Army and paramilitary units within a matter of hours. However the coup is said to have awakened Moi to the risks of power and from that day onwards, he took on a higher measure of political self-preservation opponents say verged on ruthlessness. After the coup attempt, the security forces were purged of Kenyattaists who were replaced by Moi loyalists. In subsequent elections, politicians whose allegiance was doubtful lost their seats through political machinations engineered by the President’s henchmen. Between 1982 and the early 1990s, Moi was determined to keep a tab on the opposition and resorted to tactics varying from detention without trial, torture, electronic surveillance, intimidation and outright thuggery. There has never been any direct evidence personally linking Moi with any of these acts and its possible his intelligence chiefs may have misinformed the President on the threat to his administration. Moi’s never ending political intrigues provoked an backlash against the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU). Moi, eager to strengthen the party for the sake of national unity, had talked Parliament into enacting a constitutional amendment that made KANU the only legal political party. By the late 1980s Moi’s political machinations provoked calls to a return to multiparty democracy from the growing ranks of politicians falling out of his favor and who were seeking alternative avenues for contesting political seats. The demands for multipartyism, coupled with pent-up frustration with Moi’s security apparatus, led to riots in Kenya’s major towns in July 1990. The riots were crushed; several dozen people lost their lives. International financiers and Western nations pressurized Moi to open up the political frontiers. Monetary assistance was scaled down – a devastating blow for a government that had 30% of its budget financed from foreign assistance. The international media went on a feeding frenzy and for the first time described Moi as a typical African dictator. In December 1991, Moi asked Parliament to amend the constitution and legalize opposition parties for the first time in ten years. It would be another ten years before opposition parties could organize themselves and win power. But then it was only because Moi was no longer a candidate. Moi was undefeatable in elections because his opponents often underestimated his intelligence by virtue of his humble origins. Among the reasons Moi had given while opposing multipartyism was that political parties would stoke ethnic nationalism. Soon after the opposition was legalized, tribal clashes did erupt in the Rift Valley and persist intermittently to this day. The clashes were incited by Cabinet Ministers who had declared the Rift Valley – Moi’s home province – out of bounds to the opposition. Tribal groups thought to be sympathetic to the opposition were attacked by members of Moi’s Kalenjin tribe, houses were burnt and farms taken over by squatters. The clashes caused major economic losses as property was destroyed, trading activities stopped and agricultural production plummeted. Following the re-introduction of multipartyism right until the close of his presidency in 2003, Moi dropped all pretenses at being development conscious. Because of legalized competition for his own job, Moi devoted his time and energies exclusively to politics. Political intrigues did not end; they actually intensified as politicians sought his patronage – and the cash that went with it. Financial scandals became routine in Moi’s government throughout the 1990s as his cronies devised means of acquiring wealth in the shortest possible time. Moi turned state functions into full time campaign rallies and these were held, not only on weekends, but at anytime during the weekday. Cabinet ministers and members of parliament eager to curry favor with the president took to tagging along with him wherever he went. The result: lack of commitment to their jobs and, possibly, one of the longest Presidential motorcades of an African president. A typical presidential motorcade accompanying Moi to the airport to “wish him a safe journey” would consist of at least 50 limousines ferrying cabinet ministers, heads of state corporations, security chiefs and several diplomats. Among the notable successes of the Moi presidency was reform of the education system. By the early 1980s, a Canadian educationist commissioned to study the existing education system said that education should cease producing graduates seeking white-collar jobs. The educationist said the future was one of labor uncertainty, making it necessary to equip graduates with day to day practical skills that are easily transferable from workplace to workplace. Despite criticism, Moi went ahead and implemented the recommendations. School children were introduced to subjects as varied as home science, business education, agriculture, crafts work and music. In secondary schools, students were taught power mechanics, electricity, accounting, metal fabrication, carpentry, social ethics and sex education. Today, education experts acknowledge the wisdom of imparting practical skills on children, in a world where constant retraining and career shifts has become the accepted norm. During Moi’s presidency, thousands of schools sprang up across the country while four additional public universities were built in a bid to create a skilled work force. Daniel arap Moi has never forgotten the teachings of Christianity that he got in his early years of mission school. He attends church service every Sunday, even when travelling abroad. In his tenure of office, Moi's church attendance would be broadcast on national television to the chagrin of his opponents. Moi reportedly reads the Bible every night and when invited to address congregations, he is able to quote Biblical verses, much to the amazement of many. He has assisted in the fund-raising meetings of several churches from various denominations (Njiru, 1997). Regardless of what is said about Daniel arap Moi, the former teacher, legislator, cabinet minister, President and member of parliament has left his mark not only on Kenyans but also in international affairs. He has initiated numerous peace efforts across Africa many of which were successful. These include Namibia's independence, Uganda's civil war negotiations that brought Yoweri Museveni into power and the Southern Sudan peace process. He also attempted to mediate in Somalia's civil war but the problems in that country are so complex that it has lacked a government for 17 years. Moi's advice was greatly sought by such world leaders as US President Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany. Moi took the presidency in 1978 promising to follow example of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. However, it can be said that Moi fulfilled his ultimate goal of becoming a defining standard by himself. "President Moi has made his own footprints in the sands of time," said Mrs Thatcher (Njiru, 1997). Top REFERENCES:1). Njiru, Lee (1997). "The Making of a President." Kenya Times, December 11, 1997. Times Observer P. III2). Kenya Times, (1997). "Moi The Man: Humble, realistic and hard-working" Kenya Times, December 11, 1997. Times Observer P. III |
©2007
Godfrey M. Kimega
Crystal Images Kenya, Email: [email protected]
