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PROFILE OF DANIEL T. ARAP MOI
Daniel
Toroitich arap Moi, the second president of Kenya, was born on 2nd September
1924 in Kurieng'wo village in Sacho Location of Baringo District.
In 1934, Moi joined African Inland Mission School, Kabartonjo where he had to walk 28 miles away from home. On October 20th 1936 he was baptized Daniel. In 1938, he was transferred to Government African School, Kapsabet.
In 1945 he was selected to join a teacher’s college to undertake a teacher’s course. On completion of the course, Moi was posted as a Head teacher to Kabarnet While here, he studied privately and passed London Matriculation Examinations and was then promoted in 1949 to the rank of P2. After a brief course at Kagumo College, he was transferred to Tambach Govt. African School as a Teacher Trainer.
President Moi married Helena (Lena) Bommet in 1950 and they were blessed with eight children, three daughters and five sons, (Jennifer, Doris and adopted daughter June; Jonathan, Raymond, John Mark, Philip and Gideon).
In 1950 he attended a course at the Jeans School (Kenya Institute of Administration) and later posted to Govt. African School, Kabarnet where he taught teachers up to 1955 when he joined politics. A meeting with a group of freedom fighters under the command of Brig. Daniel Njuguna heralded the decision because he was sympathetic to their cause. He had earlier fed the group for two weeks and given them food and money to further their cause.
In October 1955, the Electoral College selected Moi from a list of eight nominated candidates to fill a vacancy of Mr. Joseph ole Tameno who had resigned from the unofficial benches of the legislative council. He became a member of the Legislative Council (Legco) with other four African members. On adapting to the new responsibilities, he moved a motion in the Legco demanding that African teachers be allowed to form their own association. Thus Kenya National Union of Teachers was formed and registered in 1957.
He worked alongside other leaders like Messrs. Eliud Mathu, Ronald Ngala and Masinde Muliro in agitating for the release of Jomo Kenyatta and for greater African representation in Legco.
In 1959, he daringly led a group of leaders to visit Jomo Kenyatta in detention camp in Lodwar. Moi was among the Kenyan delegation under the auspices of KADU who went to the London Constitutional talks of June 1960.
Just before independence (1961), Moi was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry for Education and later served in the Ministries of Education and Local Government in the coalition Government. He served as Minister for Local Government at age 37. As all-conference Chairman of KADU, Moi saw the intricacy of politics and opted for a united and nationalistic approach leading to the dissolution of KADU in November, 1964.
Following the resignation of Mr. Joseph Murumbi In January 1967, Moi, then aged 41, was appointed as the Vice-President, a post he held until August, 1978, when he ascended to the Presidency after the death of Jomo Kenyatta.
Moi carried Jomo Kenyatta's message of peace, love and unity. He helped to raise funds for numerous self-help projects, which made him well known in the whole country.
Moi succeeded President Jomo Kenyatta as Kenya’s Head of State on the latter’s death in August 1978
In 1981, President Moi was elected Chairman of the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now renamed the African Union (AU), Nairobi emerged as the seat of pan-African conflict resolution with delegates of Africa's warring groups streaming in and out in search of peace. This earned President Moi reputation as a skilled negotiator.
As a result, Moi was involved in mediation between various conflicting sides in Uganda, Congo, Somalia, Chad, Sudan, Mozambique, Eritrea/Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi etc. He served as Chairman of Preferential Trade Area (1989-1990), COMESA (1999-2000), E.A. community (1996-date) and Inter-Governmental Authority on Development IGAD (1993-1998).
Due to his promotion of peaceful resolution of conflicts, Kenya has been called upon by the UN to provide peace-keeping forces in troubled parts of the world like Chad, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique, Iran/Iraq, Kuwait, Yugoslavia, Liberia, Morocco, Angola, Serbia/Croatia, DRC, Sierra Leone and East Timor.
At various fora, Moi has stressed the need for Africans to cement their unity and solidarity in order deal effectively with the many internal and external hazards. President Moi is a strong believer in the formation of regional economic bodies to increase trade and as a means for the developing countries to have a united voice in the global economy.
It is during his rule that the review of the Kenya constitution was initiated. However, the constitutional review process under Prof. Yash Pal Ghai was halted temporarily due to the dissolution of 8th Parliament to pave way for the General Elections.
The President retired on 30th December 2002 after handing over power to President Mwai Kibaki, winner of the December 27th General Elections.
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