Former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1978 to 2002, has died aged 95, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced yesterday.
Moi’s 24-year rule saw his country become a one-party state where critical voices were crushed, corruption became endemic and tribal divisions were stoked and turned bloody.
“It is with profound sadness that I announce the death of a great man of an African state,” Kenyatta said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
He ordered a period of national mourning until a state funeral is held, on a date not yet announced.
The former president died “in the early morning of Feb. 4 at Nairobi hospital in the presence of his family,” Kenyatta said.
Moi fought off rivals in a bitter contest to take the top job in 1978, succeeding Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, when he died.
Kenyan National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi said on Twitter that Moi was an “astute politician,” who “employed pragmatic nationalism to keep the country together for the 24 years that he led our nation.”
“He will be remembered for his great efforts towards consolidating peace and tranquility within the Horn of Africa and largely the East African Region, at a very difficult time for the region and the African continent,” Muturi added.
One of the defining scandals of Moi’s presidency was the loss of US$1 billion from the central bank through false gold and diamond exports.
A report by Britain-based risk consultant group Kroll in 2007 claimed Moi’s family and clique laundered money on a global scale, buying properties and companies in London, New York and South Africa and even a 10,000 hectare ranch in Australia.
Inflation and employment levels are high in Kenya, and high levels of corruption have caused the economy to stagnate.
Those targeted by his regime included human rights and environmental activists, including the writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o and the future Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai.
However, Moi was praised for keeping Kenya a relative haven of peace during a chaotic period in east Africa which saw the genocide in Rwanda and civil wars in Burundi and Somalia.
His later return — under significant pressure — to multiparty elections in 1992, and peaceful handover of power to opposition leader Mwai Kibaki in 2002 also won him some praise.
In the past few years observers have criticized the “rehabilitation” of Moi as the elderly former president often received visits from Kenyatta, his opposition rival Raila Odinga and any politician seeking his blessing ahead of elections.
Kenyatta revived “Moi Day” in honor of the former president in 2017, after it was scrapped in 2010.
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