nyayo's Legacy the good, the bad and the ugly:
By the time moi took power in 1978 Kenyan institutions had been destroyed by Kenyatta regime in a vicious palace battle for Kenyatta succession. Kenyatta died while being held hostage in Mombasa by a cabal of charlatans who according to Kenyatta aides didn't even offer Kenyatta a chance to die in dignity, His personal aide narrated to DN that kenyatta died abandoned by those minding him. This claim was denied by Kenyatta family. Due to these battles kenyans were tired of Kenyatta regime. Kenyans wanted a break from Kenyatta era of corruption and mediocrity. So Moi was a breath of fresh air. When Charles Njonjo called the cabinet meeting that was meant to decide the fate of Kenyatta succession it was season finale to Kenyatta era. He had one plan in mind to punish the thugs that were surrounding Kenyatta by Making Moi president. CJ was able to fish moi from a swamp in RV where he had gone to hide as soon as he realized Kenyatta had died. Moi knew there plans to kill him by a militia called Ngoroko The plan was to kill moi and dissolve his body with acid and flush him to down the state lodge drainage pipe. So as soon as Moi sensed that kenyatta had died he ran to a swamp in Naivasha and hid. The army intelligence fished him from the hiding hole and took him to statehouse. When he got into the conference room Moi being an emotional person started wiping like a teething baby. Njonjo rose up and slapped Moi hard and told him to man up and chair the cabinet. He did as told and chaired the meeting and was made a transition president for 90 days
So in this backdrop Moi hit the ground to win hearts and minds of skeptical Kenyans. To tour the country he started soil conservation campaign to fight soil erosion caused mainly by poor farming practices. He advocated planting trees and building gabions. Since kenya is full of peasant farmers this endeared him to most.
Then came Air-force attempted coup in 1982. I saw the helicopters heading for NBI and little did I know that they were on their way to awaken a monster. The aftermath of this attempted coup resulted in Moi deciding to crash all dissents from within and without. In the process a lot of innocent people got killed, jailed and victimized. by end of the crackdown everyone was bitter with Moi and what started as a power consolidation move ended fracturing the country and gone was the popular support moi enjoyed. By 1988 moi was unpopular and fearing losing elections to dissidents within KANU he rigged everyone including Kibaki and Matiba his close allies in Central. After the rigging Matiba started to explore way to move on Moi first. He even toyed with military option by visiting Burundi to source mercenaries. Moi moved on Matiba first and demoted him from KANU and fired him from Cabinet. Kibaki the fence sitter stayed put in Kanu and was demoted to Health ministry and to avoid dealing with deteriorating health system Kibaki continued drinking and doing nothing. In 1990 Matiba reached out to Jaramogi and the movement to reappeal constitution started.
from 1988 to 1999 Moi kitchen cabinet had been taken over by Old carpet baggers akina mulu Mutysia,kariuki chotora and sharriff nassir, and other old buggers that could barely write their names. The technocrats in the regime decided that the wheels had come off and started wanton looting of public sector organizations and private companies. In this period a total of $40 billion dollars was stolen from Kenya and stashed in tax havens in Europe.
Meanwhile the West (America and Britain) had to support moi to help them stabilize East and Central Africa. Somali, Sudan, Uganda and lakes regions countries. These nations were all going through civil wars or recovering from wars. So moi used his elder statesman stature to negotiate end of wars in these countries. Kenya was at that point was hosting refugees from about 5 countries.
In short Moi legacy is mixed bag and it is really sad that due to kenyan murky politics moi spent his years as president honing skills to use absolute power to subjugate Kenyans. In the process corruption killed the State. As Ngugi wa Thiong'o would say years later Moi birthed a VIRUS called Moism. it will take generations to wipe out corruption and tribalism that Moi cultivated for over 20 years of his rule.
Legacy wise Moi left
A mostly peaceful country with only pockets in RV and coast were have occasional political violence
Made Kenya a leader in diplomacy in East and central Africa regions
Promoted education..although education was of poor quality Kenya is way ahead of her peers
Embraced Family planning and made it a central campaign
He was an environmentalist at heart. it is only that politics and his greed for patronage made him hurt the same causes he championed. He annexed Karura and tried to grab Uhuru park.
His biggest Failures:
Very corrupt
Ruined thousands of lives with his dictatorship
Allowed tribal clashes to become a way of settling political grievances
Was an insecure, myopic leader. He would not see a talent he didn't want to exploit and then destroy
Topic: Moi impending death..funeral drama (Read 3518 times)