Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( MOH-ee; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He is the country's longest-serving president to date. Moi previously served as the third vice president of Kenya from 1967 to 1978 under President Jomo Kenyatta, becoming the president following the latter's death.
Born into the Tugen sub-group of the Kalenjin people in the Kenyan Rift Valley, Moi studied as a boy at the Africa Inland Mission school before training as a teacher at the Tambach teachers training college, working in that profession until 1955. He then entered politics and was elected a member of the Legislative Council for Rift Valley. As independence approached, Moi joined the Kenyan delegation which travelled to London for the Lancaster House Conferences, where the country's first post-independence constitution was drafted. In 1960, he founded the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) as a rival party to Kenyatta's Kenya African National Union (KANU). Following independence in 1963, Kenyatta who became Prime Minister and later President of the new nation, convinced Moi to merge the two parties. Kenyatta appointed Moi to his government in 1964 and then promoted him to vice-president in 1967. Despite opposition from a Kikuyu elite known as the Kiambu Mafia, Kenyatta retained Moi as his vice president. Moi took over as president when Kenyatta died in 1978.
Initially popular both nationally and in Western countries, who saw his regime as countering against influences from the Eastern Bloc-aligned governments of Ethiopia and Tanzania, Moi's popularity fell around 1990 as the economy stagnated after the end of the Cold War. Following the agitation and external pressure, he was forced to allow multiparty elections in 1991. He then led his party, KANU, to victory in the 1992 and 1997 elections, both of which have generally been regarded as neither free nor fair by independent observers. Constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, Moi chose Uhuru Kenyatta as his successor, but Kenyatta was defeated by opposition leader Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 general election, and Kibaki succeeded Moi as president. Kenyatta would eventually win the presidency in the 2013 election.
Moi's regime was deemed dictatorial especially before 1992 when Kenya was a one-party state. Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, as well as a special investigation by the United Nations, accused Moi of human rights abuses during his presidency. Inquiries held after the end of his presidency found evidence that Moi and his sons had engaged in significant levels of corruption, including the 1990s Goldenberg scandal.
Early life and entry into politics
Moi was born Toroitich arap (son of) Moi, Toroitich meaning "welcome home the cattle", in the Rift Valley village of Kuriengwo, which is now in Sacho division of Baringo County. Moi's father, Kimoi arap Chebii, died in 1928. Moi was only four then and little is known about his mother, Kabon. What is known is that Tuitoek, his elder brother, became his guardian. He proceeded to live with the Chesire family, his relatives, under the matriarch, Elizabeth Chesire. Reuben Chesire and Zipporah Kittony grew up with him at the home. Moi was one of the herdsboys from Sacho location recommended to join the new Africa Inland Mission (AIM) School at Kabartonjo in 1934 before it was shifted to Kapsabet. He was from the Tugen sub-group of the Kalenjin people.
At the African Mission School at Kabartonjo, Moi became a Christian and adopted the name Daniel. Moi attended Tambach Teachers Training College after its relocation from Kabartonjo from 1945 to 1947. This is after the colonial government denied him a chance to enroll at Alliance High School. He later attended Kagumo Teacher's College, and taught classes at Tambach Teacher's Training College. Later he became the headmaster of a school in the Keiyo District. He worked as a teacher from 1946 until 1955.
Moi entered politics in 1955 when he was elected Member of the Legislative Council for Rift Valley. He was the chosen replacement of Dr. John ole Tameno, the former representative who had had to quit due to heavy drinking and suspected connections to the freedom movement. In 1957 Moi was re-elected Member of the Legislative Council for Rift Valley. Moi was part of the Kenyan delegation at the Lancaster House Conferences in London, which drafted the country's first post-independence constitution, and in 1961, he became Minister of Education in the pre-independence government.
In 1960 he founded the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) with Ronald Ngala as a political alternative to the Kenya African National Union (KANU) led by Jomo Kenyatta. KADU pressed for a federalist constitution, while KANU was in favour of a centralized government. The advantage lay with the numerically stronger KANU, and the first post-independence constitution emphasised national unity, structuring the country as a unitary state.
After Kenya gained independence on 12 December 1963, Kenyatta convinced Moi that KADU and KANU should merge to complete the process of decolonisation. Accordingly, KADU dissolved and joined KANU in 1964. The only real challenge to KANU's dominance came from the Kenya People's Union, starting in 1966. That party was banned in 1969, and from that point onward Kenya was a de facto one-party state dominated by the Kĩkũyũ-Luo alliance. However, with an eye on the fertile lands of the Rift Valley populated by members of Moi's Kalenjin tribe, Kenyatta secured their support by first promoting Moi to Minister for Home Affairs in 1964, and then to Vice-President in 1967. As a member of a minority tribe Moi was also an acceptable compromise for the major tribes. Moi was elected to the Kenyan parliament in 1963 from Baringo North. From 1966 until his retirement in 2002, he served as the MP for Baringo Central in addition to his various other offices.
However, Moi faced opposition from the tribe Kikuyu elite known as the Kiambu Mafia, who would have preferred one of their own to accede to the presidency. This resulted in an attempt by the constitutional drafting group to change the constitution to prevent the vice-president automatically assuming power in the event of the president's death. However, many senior Kikuyu politicians, including Mwai Kibaki and Charles Njonjo, as well as Kenyatta himself, opposed such a change to the order of succession, fearing it might lead to political instability if Kenyatta died, given his advanced age and perennial illnesses. Thus, Moi's position as successor to Kenyatta was safeguarded.
When Jomo Kenyatta died on 22 August 1978, Moi became the acting president. Per the Constitution, a special presidential election for the balance of Kenyatta's term was to be held on 8 November, 90 days later. However, a Cabinet meeting decided that no one else was interested in running for presidency, thus various politicians began campaigning across the country for Moi to be declared the president unopposed. He was therefore sworn in as the second President of Kenya on 14 October 1978 as a result of the walkover electoral process. Upon becoming president, Moi promised (as noted by one journal) "to conduct an open, democratic government and lead the country into a new era of African socialism."
In the beginning, Moi was popular with widespread support all over the country. He toured the country and came into contact with the people everywhere, which was in great contrast to Kenyatta's imperious style of leadership from behind closed doors. However, political realities dictated that he would continue to be beholden to the system of government that Kenyatta had created and to whose headship he had acceded, including the nearly dictatorial powers vested in his office. Despite his popularity, Moi was still unable to fully consolidate his power. From the beginning, anti-communism was an important theme of Moi's government; speaking on the new President's behalf, Vice-President Mwai Kibaki bluntly stated, "There is no room for Communists in Kenya."