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Sun sets on Kenya’s second Head of State President Moi

Thursday, February 13th, 2020 00:00 | By
Military officers at the grave site after the body was lowered in the grave. Photo/PSCU

Emeka-Mayaka Gekara

The sun yesterday set on one of Kenya’s greatest politicians who rose from humble beginnings to dominate the country’s public life  for more than four decades.

The 95-year-old former President Daniel arap Moi, who was last evening buried at his  Kabarak home in Nakuru county, was eulogised as a statesman, a Pan-Africanist, a mentor, a father, an educationist, staunch Christian, a doting grandfather, strict disciplinarian, a mentor, conservationist, a giant of history.

 President Uhuru Kenyatta led thousands of Kenyans to Kabarak University grounds for the final send-off of the retired President whom he described as a father, a mentor and great son of Africa.

 Moi, who ruled Kenya for 24 years, was laid to rest after an elaborate ceremony attended by the country’s key leaders and public servants who worked for him, notably Deputy President William Ruto, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and former Vice-Presidents Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi, Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula and a host of former Cabinet ministers.

Glowing tribute

“I am here to mourn a man I considered a father, teacher and mentor and giant of Africa,” said Uhuru.

“He was my father. Worked with my father and he raised us after my father’s death. I have benefited from his love.

I have learnt politics from him. I have also faced his wrath,” noted the President, during the ceremony at which Moi’s son,  Baringo Senator Gideon Moi, was crowned the fallen leader’s political heir.

 The former President, whose remains were draped in the national flag and transported on a gun-carrier, was accorded full military honours with a 19-gun salute.  

The military band played the solemn last post melody as the country’s second President’s body was lowered into its final resting place next to his wife Lena, at 4.30pm.

Religious leaders led by retired Africa Inland Church Bishop Silas Yego and former Anglican Church of Kenya head Eliud Wabukala, former Head of Public Service Sally Kosgei and his long-serving personal doctor David Silverstein, opened  the lid into Moi’s statecraft, by giving intimate details of his decision-making, religious beliefs and even his last battle in hospital.

Dr Silverstein, a Jew, revealed that the former President, a staunch Christian, spent a lot of his time in hospital listening to sermons by evangelical preachers.  

The doctor recited a solemn farewell Jewish prayer for his departed patient and friend, with whom he used to share sweet sacramental wine.

Raila excited the mourners when he recited a traditional Luo dirge in honour of Moi, who he celebrated as “a freedom fighter and a hero” before flashing his trademark flywhisk above the casket.

 It would be remembered that Raila’s father, founding Vice-President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, performed a similar dirge for President Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s independence leader.

“Moi was one of the eight African members of Legislative Council (Legco). They were very few but fought colonialism.

They confronted the imperialists and demanded the release of the political detainees.

They were patriots. Moi was a Kenyan hero,” said Raila, who was detained by Moi for nine years but later buried the hatchet.

Raila used the occasion to dismiss claims that the Odinga, Kenyatta and Moi families had exclusively dominated Kenyan politics since independence.

Ruto celebrated the departed President as “a legend and father.” “Today we are burying a legend and our father.

We thank the Moi children for allowing us to share him with us, because he was our father, too,” said the Deputy President, who credited Moi for massive expansion of education during his reign.

The DP also used the Moi’s farewell service to preach peace in the Rift Valley.  “Ethnicity will not have a place in Rift Valley.

The Rift Valley will be the valley of peace and the fountain of the politics of integration,” he said.

 Mudavadi, who served as Moi’s last vice-president, also eulogised the former President as an educationist.

“The footprint that Moi has left on education is unparalleled. He presided over the most rapid expansion of education in the country,” he told mourners.

In a moving tribute, Dr Kosgei, the former Head of Public Service, gave mourners an insight into Moi’s management style. 

According to the former ambassador, Moi was a stickler to protocol and expert in use of statecraft to achieve his policy and political goals. Moi relied heavily on bureaucrats to execute his agenda.

 Other dignitaries who mourned the fallen leader include trade unionist Francis Atwoli, former Speaker Francis Kaparo, former army boss and peace mediator Lazarus Sumbweiyo, and Nyeri deputy governor Caroline Karugu, who was educated by Moi.

Kalonzo, who served in the Moi Cabinet, credited him for brokering peace in Africa.

 Sumbweiyo has been a constant figure around Moi, who tasked him to broker peace in Sudan.

“Moi is well known for the promotion of peace and security. He spearheaded the negotiations that led to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that was signed in 2005.

That was the toughest challenge I had other than fighting a war,” he said in reference to the peace deal that paved the way for the independence of South Sudan.  

Tiaty MP William Kamket used the occasion drum up support for the crowning of Gideon as the Kalenjin kingpin, a move that could likely open a major battlefront between the senator and Ruto.

Seedling blossom

“A giant tree has fallen that used to shelter us. But I am glad as it was aging it produced a seedling that has blossomed and formed a shed that will shelter us. That tree is none other than Gideon Moi,” he said.

At the end of public service,  Gideon who revealed that his father was treated by doctors from Germany, Switzerland and Britain, accepted the baton handed to him to be the political leader of the Moi family.

In a symbolic hand-over, his elder brother and Rongai MP, Raymond, gave the Senator a scepter “rungu” which was his father’s trademark and symbol of power. “I will try and I hope I will manage with the help of God,” said Gideon, accepting the baton.

Moi had dominated Kenya’s politics since independence, having participated in the Lancaster talks that paved the way for the end of the British rule.

He would then be elected as a member of Legco to represent the Rift Valley, serve as Cabinet minister in the Jomo Kenyatta administration, vice president and eventually President.

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