I first met Moi while looking for farm work, Sally reflects
Irene Githinji @gitshee
Former Head of Public Service Dr Sally Kosgei yesterday spoke about her years of interaction with President Daniel arap Moi, narrating how she met him while she was looking for a job in a farm in 1972.
“I was privileged to work with my former boss as an ordinary civil servant for five years, as an ambassador for six years, permanent secretary for 10 years and his Head of Public Service for two years.
I will always remain grateful to him for his generosity, support, professionalism and above all respect,” Kosgei told mourners during the former President’s funeral service.
Kosgei (pictured) said she first met Moi when he was the vice-president.
“I was coming to the end of my first year at the university and was job-seeking. The year was 1972 in July.
I was struck by his humility and what crossed my mind was that he stood like a soldier. He was very polite. He was surprised that I wanted manual work on a farm and many years later he reminded me of this meeting when I was reluctant to take up the London posting,” Kosgei, a former High Commissioner to London, United Kingdom, said.
“He even reminded me of the ridiculous T-Shirt I was dressed in that day. You have to believe that he had a very strong memory.
Just in case you are wondering, it was a bright yellow T-Shirt with black writings and a cap overflowing with beer; it was from East African Breweries with a caption ‘Have a nice day’,” Kosgei recounted.
Education champion
She said on their first meeting, Moi had talked to her about the importance of education and made her promise him that she would pursue her education to the doctorate level, thus she was not surprised that he paid so much attention to education when he became president.
Kosgei said Moi treated women with a lot of respect and many times, she found herself “abandoned” especially when he seemed not to be in his best of moods.
“I soon recognised how to know signs of displeasure; if he called me Daktari, I was ok, Sally is my official name so that was fine.
But if he received me with the name lakwani, which means child in Kalenjin, I knew I was in deep trouble. If he was angry with me he would send Joshua Kulei to tell me or I just stayed away,” she recalled.
She said she worked closely with Moi during the 2002 election and transition to the Narc administration.
“I prepared two speeches for the then Kanu candidate Uhuru Kenyatta – one in the event he won the election and another if he lost – and handed them to Moi,” she said.
