Daniel Moi, the perfect barnstormer in Kenyan politics

Daniel arap Moi, 1924-2020. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Those who lived during his presidency are not ignorant of the scale of the purges and crimes of his Kanu regime.
  • But his admirers are mourning him as an African statesman.
  • The decimation of Kanu left Moi with no political platform.

Mzee Moi died at the Nairobi Hospital at 5.20am on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, aged 95.

President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the death in a Presidential Proclamation.

Dismissed as a dictator by his critics, Moi’s 24-year rule was plagued with claims of widespread human rights violations, nepotism, assassinations and embezzlement of state funds which not only wrecked Kenya’s economy but also institutionalised kleptocracy.

Shrewd and scheming in equal measure, Moi was a perfect barnstormer in Kenyan politics and manipulated established politicos as if they were wooden marionettes.

'I'M THE STATE'

So powerful was he that Western media always likened him to French King Louis XVI and his famous statement: L’état, c’est moi, meaning “I am the State”.

While those who lived during his presidency are not ignorant of the scale of the purges and crimes of his Kanu regime, his admirers are mourning him as an African statesman — the man who kept the Kenyan nation together amid the turmoil experienced in the neighbouring Uganda, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia — a feat he often used to dismiss his Western critics whenever they pushed him to open the political space.

A canny political operator, Moi created a virtual one-man rule under the guise of a single-party democracy and survived by silencing his critics through arbitrary detentions and, at times, extrajudicial executions.

While he used draconian methods to stay in power, he was the darling of Cold War-era American and British leaders, who tolerated his excesses in exchange for his support of their national interests.

MILITARY BASE

Moi had, early in his presidency, allowed Washington to establish a military base in Mombasa soon after he visited the US — on the first State visit by a Kenyan president — in February 1980.

He had gone to ask for relief aid as Kenya faced serious food shortage and, in return, allowed the US to establish a military base at the coast and increase military assistance in the form of equipment and training to Kenya.

Although he was criticised by other international leaders, including his African peers, for openly supporting America’s strategic interests, he used the opportunity to train and equip the military and expand the port of Mombasa and the airport, whose runway was lengthened to accommodate larger military aircraft like the Lockheed C-5.

By balancing both local needs and geopolitics, Moi became an international figure and this soon paid dividends when he was elected chairman of the then powerful Organisation of African Unity during its June 1981 summit in Nairobi.

CHAD CRISIS

For Moi, this was a crucial meeting and he found himself negotiating the Chadian crisis, which was to become a major African issue as ministers could not agree on which delegation would represent Chad during the 1982 Tripoli Summit where Muamar Gaddafi was to take over OAU leadership. As a result, the summit failed, amid US sabotage, and Moi had to serve a record two terms.

Back home, the economy was drifting into a mess and the country had not recovered from the oil crisis. Moi had turned Kenya into a de jure one-party state on June 9, 1982 by prohibiting all other political parties.

CRACKDOWN ON CRITICS

He also accelerated the crackdown on his critics and used Kanu to monitor and suppress opponents, borrowing a leaf from founding president Jomo Kenyatta, who had used the provincial administration to silence his critics.

It was this crackdown that led to the August 1982 attempted coup that would, in the coming years, transform Moi into a ruthless dictator.

It took an international push by lobby groups, Western democracies and the United States, which had abandoned him, for Moi to agree to open the political space. But even with that, he was a reluctant democrat and managed to outwit the divided opposition through rigging and by corrupting the electoral system and candidates.

SUCCESSOR

While he won two general elections — against Kenneth Matiba and, later, Mwai Kibaki — he faltered in naming his successor within Kanu Uhuru Kenyatta, who was defeated by the opposition’s Mwai Kibaki in 2002.

Kanu’s rule since 1963 had come to a crushing end.

Moi’s exit from the national politics was greeted with celebrations, and during the handover ceremony at Uhuru Park, he was publicly humiliated and shouted down.

It was a sad departure for a man who had ruled the country for 24 years.

KANU DECIMATED

While many thought Moi would remain relevant in national politics, the decimation of Kanu left him with no political platform.

His attempt to have the Moi Africa Foundation turn him into a statesman also flopped and, as age and ill-health caught up with him, he could hardly keep pace with the emerging politics.

Although the former president had been ailing for some time, little was known about his poor health, which was a closely guarded secret.

Occasionally, when admitted to hospital, his press team would say he had been taken for “routine check-up”.

Moi ruled Kenya between 1978 and 2002 and was always portrayed by State media as a vibrant and healthy man. If he had any ailments during that period, they were hidden from the public.

HEALTH SECRET

Unlike his predecessor Jomo Kenyatta, whose struggle with a heart problem and gout was public knowledge, Moi and his handlers opted to keep his health secret during his presidency.

His successor Mwai Kibaki rode into State House on a wheelchair following a December 3, 2002 motor accident during the presidential campaigns.

While the accident left him with a broken wrist and ankle and fractured vertebrae, there were suggestions that he also suffered a mild stroke later on, which was also hushed by State House.

Moi was a workaholic — at least before he retired — and kept fit for his age. He never used a walking stick in public, and even when his eyesight started failing, it was the font size of his speeches that was increased because he could not stand reading glasses.

Only once during his presidency did he publicly acknowledge he had been unwell, but even that was after prodding by the opposition after he was hospitalised in Israel for eye surgery.

DEATH RUMOUR

The Nairobi rumour mills had suggested that he was dead, and this led to the arrest of several opposition MPs

In the last three years he had disappeared from the public limelight, which fuelled rumours about his health. In March 2018 he was flown to Israel aboard a chartered plane in the company of his long-time doctor David Silverstein and son Gideon.

His spokesman Lee Njiru said Moi had gone for a check-up on his knee, which “had been troubling him for some time.”

On January 27, 2017 Moi had undergone a minor surgery at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi to correct the knee problem, which had started on July 30, 2006 when his Range Rover collided with a pickup truck near Limuru’s Rukuma View Point.

During the October 26, 2017 election, Moi did not leave his car at the Kabarak University polling station.

Instead, he cast his vote from the car with the assistance of a polling clerk, which was a clear sign that the old-man had a mobility problem.

On December 12, 2018, President Moi was again admitted at Nairobi Hospital with a “bout of flu”.

Dr Silverstein said the former head of state would spend a couple of nights in the hospital to accord doctors ample time to carry out their analysis.

Moi left hospital on Monday, December 17, 2018.