Daniel Arap Moi: A Great Man Dies At 95

Former Kenya President, Daniel arap Moi, who ruled the country from 1978 to 2002, died in the early hours of Tuesday morning after serving in the public office for 24 years. The announcement was made public by President Uhuru Kenyatta. 

The incumbent President announced the death of Moi at Nairobi Hospital. President Uhuru says that the death caused the nation a profound sadness because Moi was a great man of Africa state. In honor of his reputation, the President has declared a period of national mourning and ordered a period of national mourning and all flags to fly at half-staff, as well as granting him to receive a state funeral.

Before his death, Moi was surrounded by his family. He was hospitalized in October 2019 for breathing problems, but was discharged after a few weeks.

Moi received his education at government and missionary schools, after which he became a teacher as Kenya was moving towards independence from British rule. He became the Minister of Home Affairs and President Jomo Kenyatta later named him Vice President in 1967.

Fifteen years after Kenya won independence from Britain in 1963, Mr. Moi succeeded president Jomo Kenyatta, the country’s founding father. Mr. Moi, a former schoolteacher, and national legislator, as vice president. Kenyatta’s imperial style of governing behind closed doors was quickly overshadowed with widespread support all over the country. He toured the country, courting its ethnic and tribal groups and gaining wide popularity. He introduced free milk for children and pledged to do away with endemic graft and elevate Kenya’s struggling tourism-and-agriculture economy, which was in great contrast to his predecessor. Thereafter, he won Western support with anti-communist policies during the Cold War.

Prior to Jomo Kenyatta’s death on 22nd of August, 1978, Moi became acting president. Per the Constitution, a special presidential election for the balance of Kenyatta’s term was scheduled on 8 November, 90 days later. That never happened as the Cabinet held a Special Cabinet meeting without Moi’s presence and decided that no one else was interested and went around the country campaigning for him to be declared elected unopposed. He was therefore sworn in as the second President of Kenya on 14 October 1978.

As a statesman, Daniel Arap Moi had contagious influence in cementing East African countries like Tanzania and Uganda into a coherent trading block. On March 14, 1996, full East African Cooperation efforts began and in July 1999 the new East African Community was born.

In 1979, Moi rallied to the cause of anti-apartheid in southern Africa, ordering Kenyan soldiers to march into pre-independence Zimbabwe as peacekeepers during the ceasefire. While he was still the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Moi participated in securing peace in Chad. In Sudan, Moi spearheaded the talks that led to a referendum that ended a three-decade war in South Sudan and the creation of a new nation in July 2011.

With 24 years under his belt as Kenya’s prominent leader, Moi had a huge impact on shaping Kenya’s politics and governmental structures. Subsequent presidents, Mwai Kibaki, and Uhuru Kenyatta, can be said to have been appointed by the elder statesman.

As a former teacher, Moi’s contribution to the Nation also included a wide expansion of higher education. It was during his era that the university sector made names beginning with the opening of Kenya’s second university in Eldoret, a town in the north.

Some other universities began operation, including private educational institutions run by Methodists. Statistically, Kenya now has more than 60 universities and public university colleges.

Moi was born on September 2, 1924, in Baringo County. He was nicknamed “Professor of Politics” amongst Kenyans.

During 2002 Kenya’s election, Moi was barred from running as a presidential candidate. Some of his supporters tried to amend the constitution to allow him to run for a third term, but Moi preferred to retire. Moi handed over power to President Mwai Kibak, in a poorly organized ceremony that had one of the largest crowds ever seen in Nairobi in attendance.

However, he still retained some popularity with the masses, and his presence never failed to gather a crowd. He spoke out against a proposal for a new constitution in 2005. While in 2007, he was named a special envoy to Sudan.