Daniel arap Moi

(b. Baringo, Kenya, 2 Sept. 1924) Kenyan; Vice-President 1967 – 78, President 1978 – 2002 A member of the Kalenjin people from the Rift Valley, Daniel arap Moi was a headmaster and vice-principal of a teacher training college, before being nominated by the colonial authorities as a legislative council representative in 1955; he was elected to the position in 1957, and in 1960 became chairman of the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU), a party formed to represent the smaller ethnic groups. He became leader of the opposition at independence in 1963, but in 1964 KADU merged with the ruling KANU and he became Minister of Home Affairs. He was made Vice-President in 1967, and peacefully took over as President when Kenyatta died in 1978.

Lacking Kenyatta's charisma and ethnic base, he gradually strengthened his position by easing the main Kikuyu politicians out of office, and as he consolidated his power became increasingly authoritarian and hectoring in manner. An attempted coup d'état led by a section of the air force in 1982, and supported by students, was repressed with some difficulty. Levels of corruption grew, and the assassination of potential rivals who included the Minister of Foreign Affairs was ascribed to individuals close to the President. A vigorous pro-democracy movement formed in Kenya after 1989, and Moi was eventually forced by external pressure, notably from the United States, to hold multi-party elections in December 1992; he won these on a minority vote after the opposition split, and subsequently sought to re-establish his control. In foreign policy, he remained pro-Western while engaged in acrimonious conflict with the United States over its pro-democracy and human rights policies.

Daniel arap Moi (born 1924) first became president of Kenya, by appointment, following the death of Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta.

Daniel arap Moi first became president of Kenya in 1978. For most of his years as president, Moi and the ruling party have had absolute authority over the country's political and judicial systems. Moi is a tough, experienced fighter, with "country boy cunning" and craftiness in exploiting tribal divisions. As the pro-government Sunday Times said: "Moi may not have studied politics at anyone's university, but he has proved himself a real 'Professor of politics' in the practical sense." In 1982 Moi pushed legislation through making Kenya a de jure (by right) one-party state, although it had been a de facto (actual) one-party state since 1969, when the opposition was banned and KANU had begun overriding Parliament in decision-making matters.

Domestically, the Kenyan government had repressed pressure for political change by detentions, torture, and killings, and by control of the media and the courts. Internationally, demands for a more just society only came in the early 1990s, with the collapse of the eastern European bloc countries and the Soviet Union. Western donor countries, alarmed by misappropriation of aid money and human rights abuses, began exerting pressure on the Kenyan government to legalize opposition parties and hold multiparty elections. U.S. State Department officials estimated that President Moi had accumulated a personal fortune equal to that of Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko, who is reported to have $4 billion outside the country, according to Blaine Harden in Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent. The pressure from other governments seemed to take its toll, and Moi held multiparty elections in late 1995. The democracy was short-lived, however: Moi suspended the entire Parliament one day after they were seated.

Moi's formal educational background consisted of mission and government schools. He received further training at a teacher training college. From there he went on to teach at government training schools. Before he entered politics, his last posting in education was as assistant principal of Tambach Government African Teachers' College.

Moi's father died when Moi was young. His mother raised the family single-handedly but they were poor. Moi's paternal uncle, Senior Chief Kiplabet, arranged for Moi to attend mission schools. Born Toroitich arap Moi, he took the name Daniel when he was baptized at the Karbatonjo mission school. Moi took menial jobs at the mission schools and during his school holidays he herded cattle. He passed his London Matriculation Examination and also got a certificate in public accounting from London through a correspondence course.

Moi's introduction to politics came in 1955 when he was selected to be an African representative to the British colonial Legislative Council, or Legco. In March of 1957 Moi and seven other African members of the Legco formed a lobby group, the African Elected Members' Organisation. Others in the parliamentary pressure group included nationalists Tom Mboyo, Oginga Odinga, and Musinde Muliro.

In 1960 as members of Legco, Moi and other nationalists participated in the constitutional talks held in London in preparation for Kenya's independence from Britain. On their return, they formed the political party Kenya Africa National Union (KANU). Eventually Moi and others from minority tribal groups broke away from KANU because it represented the interests of the dominant tribes, the Luo and the Kikuyu, and formed a multi-tribal coalition, the Kenyan African Democratic Union (KADU) as an alternative to KANU. Moi became chair of the new party.

In the transition period to independence Moi was appointed parliamentary secretary in the ministry of education in 1961. In this position he represented Kenya at the UNESCO Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and he traveled to India. In the pre-independence coalition government Moi was appointed minister for education and later minister for local government.

In pre-independence national elections in 1963, KADU failed to present enough candidates to challenge KANU, now headed by nationalist leader Jomo Kenyatta. As a result, Kenyatta became president of the new republic in 1964, and Moi lost his ministerial portfolio. To bring the opposition into his government Kenyatta appointed Moi minister of home affairs after KADU dissolved itself in November of 1964.

No sooner had the new legislature had been sworn in than Moi set his government on a confrontational course with the opposition. With his power as executive, he suspended Parliament indefinitely and told the legislators to return to their constituencies. Many of the opposition parliamentarians are articulate, independent-minded professional people who will challenge the ruling party, if given the opportunity. Several opposition publications were confiscated and editors of two publications, one church-sponsored, were charged with sedition for publishing articles critical of Moi.

Moi is a Kalenjin from the Rift Valley, a minor tribe in ethnically divided Kenya. His tribal heritage has been a significant factor in his political career. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first independence president in 1964 and a Kikuyu, selected Moi as vice president in 1967 partly because Moi lacked a powerful political base and was not a participant in the Luo-Kikuyu fight.

As vice president, Moi was perceived as bland and unassuming. But, as political rival Oginga Odinga related in his 1967 biography, Not Yet Uhuru, Moi was like "a giraffe with a long neck that saw from afar." As minister of home affairs, a position Moi retained when he became vice president, he was "responsible for the prisons, the police force, and the immigration department, [and he] made friendships which were to stand him in good stead in later years," according to Africa Confidential of June 1990. "His responsibility for issuing passports brought him into close touch with the Asian business community. His job of issuing work permits brought him equally close to British business houses. It was Moi's responsibility too as the minister of home affairs to make appointments throughout the police, prisons and immigration services. This was to be useful in later years when the police services were riddled with Moi appointees."

When Kenyatta died in August 1978, Moi became president with the consent of KANU and the help of powerful Kikuyus like attorney general Charles Njonjo. Moi named Kibaki, a Kikuyu, vice president, and other influential Kenyatta people retained their positions and parliamentary seats. Moi stressed continuation of Kenyatta's policies in his theme of "Nyayoism," or "footsteps."

As president, one of the first things Moi did was to travel the country to rural areas, visiting every tribal group. He introduced free milk programs for school children, released all political detainees, and abolished land-buying companies that had been gouging small land holders. Popular appeal, however, was not enough for Moi to hold power, especially as he came from an insignificant power base. Moi began rewarding loyalty and, as a consequence, the government became enormously corrupt. Kickbacks demanded on major government projects jumped from between 5 and 10 percent under Kenyatta to between 10 and 25 percent under Moi, according to a Kenyan economist cited by Harden in Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent. "Under Kenyatta, a spending project would be approved because it was a sound project and then it would be padded," the economist said. "Under Moi, there were a number of projects that would not and should not have been approved except for corruption."

Official corruption and abuse of powers, plus a deteriorating economy, exploded in a 1982 coup attempt by Kenya air force officers, most of them Luos, dissatisfied with their people being excluded from power and access to the national treasury. The army remained loyal to Moi and put down the coup. The president then detained most of the 2,100-strong air force, and created a totally new force. He eliminated Kikuyu and Luo officers from the military and put in Kalenjin and non-ethnic challengers; for instance, he named General Mahmoud Mohammed - and ethnic Somali - army chief of general staff. Government handouts co-opted military leaders. Officers above the rank of major got free farms, gifts of the government. Moi gave the military plentiful reasons to remain loyal to him.

On the grassroots level, the KANU youth wing conducted a massive membership recruitment drive, which reported to have attracted four million new members and raised millions of dollars for the ruling party. Even at the market level, buyers and sellers could not trade without a party card. The general services unit, a paramilitary wing of the police force with a reputation for brutality, quashed pro-democracy activities and demonstrations.

As part of his effort to rid the inner circles of government of Kikuyus, Moi orchestrated the spectacular fall from power of his Kikuyu attorney general and backer Charles Njonjo in mid-1983. Moi arranged for Kenya's byzantine political network to brand Njonjo a traitor to the nation, forcing him to resign from the Cabinet and Parliament. "You know a balloon is a very small thing," Moi said to Harden in explaining his control over political cronies. "But I can pump it up to such an extent that it will be big and look very important. All you need to make it small again is to prick it with a needle."

In July of 1991 Africa Watch, a human rights organization with offices in New York and London, published a scathing attack on the Moi government, accusing it of committing torture and gross human rights violations. In Kenya: Taking Liberties, Africa Watch documented incidents of torture and deaths of political detainees and pro-democracy advocates by the security forces.

Pressures for change were building for other reasons as well. In 1990, Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Ouko was brutally murdered shortly after returning from a trip with Moi for meetings with U.S. State Department officials in Washington, D.C. Moi's head of internal security Hezekiah Oyugi and Minister of Energy Nicholas Biwott were prime suspects in Ouko's murder. Moi stopped investigations into the murder, leaving widespread belief among Kenyans that he covered up the crime by his two top associates. As much as anything else, that provoked an outpouring of domestic and international demands for an end to Moi's one-party autocracy and the holding of multiparty elections.

As demands for elections increased, the government stepped up its repression: opposition leaders and university students were detained and tortured, their families beaten, their homes burned; publications were removed from the newsstands; and an outspoken cleric died in suspicious circumstances. On July 7, 1990 (in Swahili the date is Saba Saba for 7-7), security forces brutally put down a rally held by the opposition in defiance of a police order banning the meeting. Police charged 1,000 people with "riot-related offenses." Officials said 20 people died.

In November of 1991 the international lending agencies suspended payment of $350 million in aid to the Kenyan government. With the economy in poor condition, tourism declining, and low export commodity prices, Moi and the ruling party bowed to the pressure. He ordered Parliament to amend Kenya's constitution to allow the establishment of political parties other than KANU and to permit multiparty elections.

If the opposition parties had united behind a single candidate they could have defeated Moi, even in rigged elections. But the opposition parties, legalized only in December 1991, were divided amongst themselves. The divisions tended to break down along tribal lines. For instance, former Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga (in his 80s) headed the Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD Kenya). Odinga belongs to the Luo, one of the largest tribal groups in the country. Mwai Kibaki, another former vice president and a Kikuyu, lead the Democratic Party. Wealthy Kikuyu businessman Charles Matiba was the presidential candidate for FORD Asili ("original"), a spin-off from FORD Kenya. Thus, the opposition was split between two of the largest language groups, and the largest of these groups, the Kikuyu, was further divided. The egoism of the opposition leaders played neatly in Moi's favor.

Once the campaigning began, KANU distributed money to woo supporters through its youth wing, Youth for Kanu '92. Some of these funds were diverted from the National Social Security Fund, according to Africa Confidential in its October 1992 issue. The government flooded Nairobi with newly printed currency during the election campaign. Local newspapers reported the government nearly doubled the nation's money supply by distributing new Kenya shilling notes worth about $1.5 billion.

On December 29, 1992, in the first multiparty elections in Kenya in 26 years, incumbent Moi was elected president by a minority of voters. Moi took just over 34 percent of the popular vote and the three major opposition candidates split nearly 64 percent of the vote. The ruling party won 100 parliamentary seats and the opposition 88.

The elections that returned President Moi and the ruling national party, the Kenya Africa National Union (KANU), were marked by violence and intimidation. Shortly before the elections, tribal fighting occurred in the Rift Valley between the Kalenjin - Moi's people - and the Kikuyu, Kenya's largest tribal group, leaving approximately 700 people dead and 10,000 homeless. In 16 of the Rift Valley constituencies, no opposition candidates for Parliament ran against the ruling party. KANU supporters physically prevented either the candidates or their agents from submitting their registration papers. The deaths and registration intimidation support opposition parties' claims that Moi and KANU employed violence and threats to win the elections.

International election monitors brought in at the request of the opposition parties refused to certify the elections as free and fair. In their report on the elections, the Commonwealth Observer Group criticized KANU for not curbing the "worst excesses of their supporters," for "widespread bribery, a lack of transparency on the part of the Electoral Commission, intimidation, administrative obstacles and violence … and the reluctance of the government to delink itself" from KANU. Despite all these reservations, the Commonwealth observers said the election "results in many instances directly reflect, however imperfectly, the expression of the will of the people."

In December of 1995 elections were held and a new multiparty Parliament was elected. One such opposition party was led by the famous paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, who was born in Kenya and used to head the Kenya Wildlife Service, with Moi's backing until they had a fallout. On January 27, however, one day after being seated, the government was prorogued, or suspended by decree. The country's disarray continues, meanwhile, with violent bandit attacks on the rise and tribal fighting causing hundreds of deaths. Garbage collection is piling up in the cities, and electricity is sporadic. Rwandan Hutu refugees, many accused of the genocide in that country, have fled to asylum in Kenya with the support of Moi. Although Moi figured that elections would lead donor governments to resume aid, it doesn't appear that reconciliation with foreign powers is near.

With an election looming in 1997, Kenya's opposition parties continue to be crippled by infighting, unable to unite behind a single candidate or agree on an agenda with which to challenge Moi. Furthermore, violence against opponents of President Moi and against the press has escalated to pre-1988 levels. Opposition leader Leakey has traveled to South Africa, London, and the US in search of international support, while Moi remains unwilling to implement constitutional reform.

Further Reading

Days, Drew S., and others, Justice Enjoined: The State of the Judiciary in Kenya, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, 1992.

Harden, Blaine, Africa: Dispatches from a Fragile Continent, W. W. Norton, 1990.

Christian Science Monitor, March 5, 1997, p. 19.

Kenya: Taking Liberties, Africa Watch, July 1991.

Africa Confidential, June 1, 1990; December 6, 1991.

News Release (Nairobi), Commonwealth Observer, January 1, 1993.

New York Times, September 29, 1996, p. 1-14.

The Standard (Nairobi), January 5, 1993.

Sunday Times (Nairobi), December 27, 1992.

president

Personal Information

Born in 1924 to a farming family of the Kalenjin tribe in the Baringo district of the Rift Valley Province of western Kenya; took the name Daniel when baptized by Christian missionaries; married; children: several
Education: Attended missionary and government schools and received teacher training at the Kapsabet Teacher Training College, becoming a teacher at the Government African School in 1945.

Career

Began career as teacher, quickly advanced to head teacher, and following a series of promotions, became the headmaster of the Government African School, 1954-57; entered politics as a black representative from the Rift Valley, 1955 ; one of the first eight blacks elected to the Legislative Council, 1957; reelected, 1958; went to London as one of the African delegates who helped draft a new Kenyan constitution, 1960; elected assistant treasurer of the newly -ormed KANU (political party), 1961; established, with the leaders of other minority tribes, political party KADU, served as chairman for about a year; served in various ministerial capacities, including Minister of Education, 1961-62, Minister of Local Government 1962-64, and Minister for Home Affairs, 1964-67; became Jomo Kenyatta's vice-president, 1967, and succeeded as president upon Kenyatta's death in 1978, re-elected in 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998.

Life's Work

In 2002 Daniel Moi's 24-year presidency in Kenya drew to a close. Throughout his time in office, he faced serious problems in political, economic, and social areas. Politically a one-party state since a 1982 constitutional amendment legitimized the Kenya African National Union (KANU) as the country's single party, Kenya then faced increasing pressure from at home and abroad to move toward a multiparty system. The sweeping democratic reforms that took place in Eastern Europe and elsewhere were not unnoticed in Africa.

Moi was a strong advocate of the single-party system as practiced in Kenya. He was responsible for the 1982 constitutional amendment that outlawed opposition parties, and received support on this issue from Nelson Mandela. During his July of 1990 visit to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Mandela defended Kenya's single-party system by asking the rhetorical question, "What right have the whites anywhere to teach us about democracy, when they executed those who asked for democracy during the time of colonial rule?"

Argued for One-Party Rule

There are at least three strong arguments that Moi put forth in defense of his one-party rule. Historically, Kenya showed an unprecedented political stability for an African nation, and the country was blessed with a high level of economic, intellectual, and political development. A proliferation of political parties, Moi argued, would only encourage tribalism over nationalism. Kenya is an ethnically diverse nation of more than 40 tribes, and Kenyan politics have been intertwined with tribal interests even before independence was achieved in December of 1963. Throughout Africa, tribalism was a major deterrent to economic and political development. Wars in Africa nearly always take place between tribes rather than nations.

As a term, "tribes" is used to refer to specific ethnic groups. To explore the issue for a moment, tribalism in Kenya amounts to a fear of the Kikuyu, the country's largest tribe. Historically, the Kikuyu were prominent in Kenyan politics; it was the tribe of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president and the man who is considered the father of independent Kenya. While Kenyatta proclaimed a doctrine of nationalism, many of his policies favored his own tribe. When Kenyatta died in 1978, the law required an election within 90 days. The Kikuyu were split between two powerful rivals from their own tribe, Attorney General Charles Njonjo and Mwai Kibaki. With the support of Njonjo, the Kikuyu backed Moi, Kenyatta's vice-president and a member of a smaller tribe, the Kalenjin.

Moi ran unopposed and selected Kibaki for his vice-president, letting the Kikuyu think they would soon return to power. However, another powerful tribe, the Luo, gave Moi their backing, not wanting the Kikuyu to return to power. Moi consolidated his power when, in 1982, he persuaded parliament to pass a constitutional amendment that made KANU the country's only legal party.

Fear of Kikuyu dominance in the nation's politics stems from the colonial period, when the Kikuyu both benefited and suffered from the British presence. The British settled where the Kikuyu lived, in Nairobi and the surrounding highlands, where they established tea estates on some of the most fertile acreage in Kenya. From the British, the Kikuyu were exposed to trade and commerce and other modern ways; they also received some educational benefits. Tribes further from Nairobi enjoyed few, if any, benefits from colonial rule, and they resented the Kikuyu.

The British also exposed the Kikuyu to concepts of freedom and independence, and the Kikuyu-led "Mau Mau rebellion" of the early 1950s was an early attempt to achieve independence. To put down the uprising, the British employed other tribes, thus increasing the animosity between tribes. The Luo, a tribe originally from western Kenya, had their first contact with the Kikuyu in Nairobi, where they came to compete for jobs. In anticipation of independence for Kenya, the British in 1960 allowed the formation of political parties; the Kikuyu and Luo joined together to form KANU. Other tribes formed KADU, the Kenya African Democratic Union, whose largest tribes were the Luhya, Kenya's second largest tribe, and the Kalenjin, Moi's tribe and the nation's fifth largest. Moi was one of the KADU leaders.

One-party rule in Kenya actually began less than a year after independence, when the KADU voluntarily dissolved itself, its members joining KANU. Except for a three-year period in the late 1960s, one-party rule continued uninterrupted in Kenya until 1991. That three-year exception is notable for the formation in 1966 of the KPU, Kenya People's Union, by Oginga Odinga, Kenyatta's vice-president at the time. "Mr. Double O," as he was known informally, split with Kenyatta's capitalist-oriented policy and formed the KPU as a left wing, ideologically-based party. He was a Luo, and most of the party members were Luo, so the party represented a break between the Luo and Kikuyu tribes. The final Luo-Kikuyu break came in 1969 with the assassination of Tom Mboya, a Luo and one of the country's strongest nationalists. The assassin was identified as a Kikuyu, and following incidents of violence against Kenyatta, the KPU was banned and its leaders put in jail. Oginga Odinga, KPU's founder, would later emerge as a voice of socialist opposition against Moi's regime in the 1980s.

In addition to concerns over tribalism, Kenya's one-party system was defended as appropriate for an African nation. It was argued that multiparty systems were being forced on African nations by colonial powers, and they were not consistent with African traditions and cultures. It was also argued that most African countries were not sufficiently developed for a pluralist democracy to take hold.

Resisted Pressure From U.S

While Moi tolerated debate on multiparty democracy, he resisted pressures from the United States to practice pluralist politics. As Moi faced the end of 1990, a year that saw considerable unrest in his nation, he was presented with the prospect that future U.S. aid might be tied to the formation of a Western-style democracy and other conditions. Kenya enjoyed good relations with the West because of its free market and avoidance of communism. With the end of the Cold War, though, he faced increasing pressure to democratize the country.

1990 began with riots in February that resulted when the unsolved murder of Foreign Minister Robert Ouko was linked with possible government involvement and food prices were decontrolled. In June Kenya's Catholic bishops expressed alarm about the "unlimited authority" of KANU. It was disturbing to the bishops that the country's citizens were not holding Moi and KANU accountable. It was KANU's policy at the time to purge members with differing views.

Moi's tolerance of debate on the multiparty issue ended in July of 1990, when the government began rounding up the leaders of the multiparty movement. Those identified as leaders included former Cabinet ministers Kenneth Matiba and Charles Rubia, noted human rights attorney Gibson Kamau Kuria, and Raila Odinga, son of former Kenyatta Vice-President Oginga Odinga. Kuria received asylum in the U.S. Embassy and was later allowed to leave the country for the United States, where he would teach at the Harvard Law School as a visiting scholar. The other three were held without charges, and Moi rebuked the United States for interfering in Kenya's internal affairs. The United States countered with a statement that it was "distressed" at Kenya's repression and arrest of dissidents. As other dissidents fled the country, four days of riots and street violence engulfed Nairobi and surrounding areas. Following these riots, President Moi appointed a KANU committee to begin hearings around the country to determine what political changes the people of Kenya wanted.

While Moi's adherence to one-party rule might be justifiable, his rule as president has been marked by a steady erosion of the country's democratic institutions, including the press, the judiciary, and the voting system. When Moi was elected to his first term as president in November of 1979, five million people, or 80 percent of the electorate, turned out to vote. Over 740 candidates ran for the 158 seats in parliament. At that time, it was typical for only half of the incumbents to retain their seats. In that election, Moi ran unopposed in his own district, and many from the old Kenyatta regime were ousted.

Introduced Voting Reforms

As a result of voting reforms introduced in 1986 that partially eliminated the secret ballot, the turnout in the 1988 election was quite low, and more than three-quarters of the incumbent members of parliament retained their seats. In 1986 the secret ballot was replaced in primary elections by a system of queuing, whereby voters stand in front of the picture of the candidate of their choice. While the secret ballot was retained for general elections, a 70 percent rule was also introduced, which gave the primary candidates automatic election if they received more than 70 percent of the primary vote. These reforms served to reduce the possibility of change in the elected government, lessening the accountability of elected officials and consolidating Moi's political support.

Moi's attack on Kenya's independent judiciary began in 1986, when the constitution was amended to take away life tenure from the attorney general. Two years later, life tenure was taken away from senior judges. These officials then served at the will of the president, thus effectively eliminating the independent judiciary system. Moi also sought greater control over Kenya's press, long considered one of the country's strong points. Three magazines were banned. Government officials blocked stories from the newspapers, and the press was reluctant to investigate corruption among cabinet ministers and senior KANU politicians. Moi's actions fostered a personality cult and left him unwilling or unable to solve the problem of "rampant corruption and maddening excesses of bureaucracy," according to Time magazine. Britain's liberal paper, the Guardian, called Moi's regime "one of the world's most corrupt leaderships."

When he first became president, Moi promised to attack the corruption that had grown under Jomo Kenyatta's rule. Kenyatta's estate was valued at $200 million at the time of his death. Moi publicly denounced five members of parliament for illegal practices and began investigating contracts awarded by the Ministry of Works. In an attempt to reduce Kenyatta's estate, he authorized the repossession of property by unpaid creditors and enforced the collection of back taxes. However, it soon became clear that Moi was only pursuing incidents of corruption at the lowest levels of government. In his own government, high-level cabinet ministers reportedly made personal fortunes by importing sugar at a time when Kenya's sugar supply was low.

The first years of Moi's presidency were filled with the promise of positive developments for Kenya. He virtually eliminated the legal killing of game and the smuggling of ivory and coffee, practices that had been tolerated by Kenyatta. He reaffirmed Kenyatta's policy of development along capitalist rather than socialist lines. In a December of 1978 speech, he announced the release of 26 political prisoners who had opposed Kenyatta and introduced several social programs to combat illiteracy, increase universal free primary education, strengthen employment, and provide free milk daily to all primary school children.

Survived Coup Attempt

The first sign of an erosion in Moi's popular support came in mid-1982, when rebels from the Embakasi air force base near Nairobi seized the Voice of Kenya radio station, announced the formation of a provisional National Redemption Council, and promised the release of all political prisoners. The coup attempt was launched by junior or enlisted members of Kenya's air force who were quickly joined by students from the University of Nairobi. Although the coup attempt was quickly stamped out, the rebels were joined by slum dwellers in a looting spree aimed primarily at the Asian shopkeepers of Nairobi's tourist district and causing millions of dollars of damage. The rebels were defeated by loyalists from the Kenyan army and the General Service Unit, a paramilitary police force. Moi, not in Nairobi at the time, returned to the city and quickly launched a crackdown resulting in 3,000 arrests, including four-fifths of the 2,500-person air force.

The 1982 coup attempt revealed dangerous tensions in Kenyan politics. Moi had begun showing his authoritarian bent earlier in the year, when he ordered seven people detained without charges, including four lecturers from the University of Nairobi and their lawyer. In June the constitutional amendment legitimizing KANU as the country's sole political party was passed. In May of 1983, following the coup attempt, Moi called for parliamentary elections that September, fourteen months before they would have been constitutionally mandated. New party rules enabled Moi to handpick the entire slate of election candidates, since they all had to receive the approval of KANU's executive. During the year, Moi succeeded in purging Charles Njonjo, a former supporter and powerful Kikuyu, and his followers from the government. In the 1983 election, only 48 percent of the electorate turned out.

In 1984 Moi demonstrated a willingness to open a dialogue with student dissenters, even as he introduced measures in parliament that would reduce criticism of his regime. His authority over the cabinet ministers, who accounted for over 40 percent of parliament, was established when they were required to sign a letter from the president stating that they were not at liberty to criticize or differ from the government outside immediate government circles. In effect, senior KANU members were no longer able to express criticism of President Moi.

In 1987, following the introduction of the 1986 "queue-voting" system and the suppression of the Mwakenya conspiracy during which more than 100 people had been detained, Kenya was cited for human rights abuses. Amnesty International reported on repeated allegations of torture, which was believed to have been used on all political prisoners. Gibson Kamau Kuria, a human rights attorney, began to prepare an unprecedented case against the government. Moi's actions were also opposed by the moderate National Christian Council of Kenya, which opposed the elimination of secret ballots and said, "The party is assuming a totalitarian role. It claims to speak for the people and yet does not allow the people to give their views."

President Moi responded in June of 1989 to continuing international criticism of his human rights record by releasing all political prisoners who were being held without charges and by offering an amnesty to dissidents in exile. In light of 1990's developments, though, it seems those actions represented no change in the government's intolerance of political dissent.

As Kenya started the last decade of the 1900s, Moi was faced with many difficulties. One of them involved serious declining tourism as violence involving elephant and rhinoceros poaching continued to escalate. Kenya's fabled wildlife and national parks had for years attracted international tourists, making tourism an important contributor to Kenya's economic well being.

Enacted Violent Anti-Poaching Policy

In September of 1988, Moi had introduced a "shoot-to-kill" policy against the poachers after three Kenyan rangers were murdered. In 1989 the reclassification by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) of the African elephant from a "threatened" species to one "endangered" by trade effectively outlawed the ivory trade among CITES's 103 member nations. In a dramatic public statement, Moi set fire to 12 tons of bleached elephant tusks worth an estimated $3.6 million on the international market.

Also at risk was Kenya's rhinoceros population, which was reduced from 20,000 to only 500. In April of 1989, Moi appointed Richard Leakey the new director of the Kenyan Wildlife Service. Over 100 poachers were shot by game scouts in 1989, and the elephant kill was reduced from 1,500 in 1988 to only 100 in 1990. The violence continued when George Adamson, a champion of lions, was killed in his camp at Kora Park in August of 1989 and again when a Connecticut woman on a photo-safari was killed by poachers-turned-bandits. Most of the poaching and related violence was attributed to Somali shifta who crossed the border from Kenya's northeastern coastal neighbor.

Moi was reelected in the election of 1993, the first with a multi-party system, and resulting in the first multi-party Parliament. In typical style, he suspended the Parliament after they had been in session only one day, thus serving "notice that his government, while observing the letter of democratic practice, would not be embracing its spirit" according to The Economist. He was losing popularity in the country fast, with violence erupting in the cities and his ministers' cars being stoned as they drove through the streets. Moi had accepted changes in the government only reluctantly and obviously only on the surface in an attempt to reinitiate aid from such countries as the United States that had stopped the money flow because of the escalating corruption in the government. In the meantime Kenya continued to suffer under the harsh dictates of Moi with double-digit inflation and sporadic violence between the tribes. The cities suffered from lack of food, electricity and uncollected garbage while the government expenses increased.

In 1997, in an attempt to bolster a faltering economy, Moi traveled to many foreign countries, wooing investors to move to Kenya. IBM, KLM airways, Del Monte, Mobil and Guinness all responded with ventures in the country. As new investments and a policy of monetary control started working, inflation that had peaked at 62 percent in 1994 went back down to single digits by 1997. However, tourism, still a major industry of the country, was to take another blow as political violence increased and 42 people were killed in a violent attack at Mombasa. In Malindi, a tourist haven, 400 tourist stalls selling souvenirs were reduced to ashes. The political violence, stemming from the fact that this was an election year in Kenya, exploded across the country--just like it had in 1992. After 19 years in office, Moi was going for another five-year term and the country was unhappy. The Kenyan shilling was at a record low. Loan attempts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were denied because of the government corruption. The people still had no right to assemble and no access to the media. They began to loudly express their dissatisfaction and clamor for change. In October Moi's government struck a deal for constitutional reforms and then proceeded to continue their old policies, clubbing demonstrators and breaking up public rallies.

Pastor Timothy Njoya of Kenya expressed his concerns about the state of the county in a December article from The Christian Century, saying "There is nothing in Kenya--not even a birthday, funeral or wedding party--that can take place without due authority." And about the corruption, he continued, "it is almost impossible to get any license, even to have birth and marriage certificates, without greasing the hands of government officials." For his outspokenness, Njoya has been beaten and arrested. In July of 1997, after a peaceful church service, he was attacked and beaten so severely he almost died. He was only saved because the reporters threw themselves on top of him to prevent further injury.

In 1998, after again being reelected, Moi proceeded to continue his regime in the same manner, packing his ministers with "a mixture of the old, the bad and the obscure", according to The Economist. By law, this was Moi's last election. Part of the emphasis of these next five years of politics was to ensure that the succession left Moi in power after his presidency ended. Thus he introduced no new factions or dissonance into his cabinet. In an unprecedented act, Moi also removed the vice-president from office, electing to leave the office vacant. In December, under growing unrest, Moi launched an Anti-Corruption Authority. However, this group had limited authority and power.

Final Term Marked by Economic Crisis

President Moi's priorities in the last years of his office were apparently to feed as much graft to his coffers and those of his followers as possible and to ensure that he has a successor who will let him remain safe in his retirement. His government is cited as spending over $9 million illegally. The economy continued in a crisis. Roads across the country were in massive disrepair. Tourism continued to decline. The IMF held out loans and funds because of the continued corruption. In 1999 Moi appointed Richard Leakey, an old opponent, to his cabinet as head of the civil service. Leakey has a reputation for integrity and worked hard to remove some of the corruption. He managed to remove 25,000 dead-wood public servants and get the IMF to promise loans of $250 million, before Moi removed him from office in 2001.

As 2002 neared its end, so did the 24-year reign of Daniel arap Moi. In April Moi was re-elected chairman of the Kenyan African National Union Party (KANU), which absorbed the National Development Party (NDP), giving it around 30 percent of the vote and ensuring his continued political prominence. In the remaining months of his term, most expected Moi to continue to work for his political comfort and a successor that will continue his interests--while Kenya continues to decay and die around him.

Further Reading

Books

• Africa South of the Sahara 1991, Europa, 1990.

Periodicals

• American Spectator, March 1990.
• Atlantic, June 1979.
• Atlas World Press Review, March 1979.
• Audubon, September 1990.
• The Christian Century, December 10, 1997.
• The Economist (US), Feb 6, 1993; November 18, 1995; January 17, 1998; April 18, 1998; May 15, 1999; February 10, 2001; March 31, 2001, December 15, 2001.
• Current History, March 1982; March 1983; May 1987.
• Institutional Investor, May 1997.
• Jet, July 30, 2001, April 1, 2002.
• MacLean's, August 16, 1982; May 30, 1983; July 31, 1989; September 1, 1997.
• The Nation, September 11, 1982.
• New Yorker, September 3, 1990.
• Newsweek, July 23, 1990.
• Rolling Stone, October 4, 1990.
• Time, November 19, 1979; August 16, 1982; October 16, 1989; May 21, 1990.
• U.S. News & World Report, October 20, 1997.
• World Press Review, May 1987.

— David Bianco and Pat Donaldson

For more information on Daniel Toroitich arap Moi, visit Britannica.com.

Moi, Daniel Toroitich arap (môy) , 1924–, president of Kenya (1978–2002). First named to the legislature in 1955, he opposed Kikuyu and Luo dominance until he joined Kenya's first independent government (1963) and the majority party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU). Moi became vice president in 1967 and he succeeded Jomo Kenyatta as Kenya's and KANU's president in 1978 after Kenyatta's death. He was initially popular, winning over the Kikuyu and freeing political prisoners. He established a one-party state in 1982, but repression and subsequent protests in the late 1980s led the United States to withhold aid. Moi restored a multiparty system in late 1991 and was reelected in 1992 and 1997, but his government continued to be accused of human-rights violations and corruption. After retiring as Kenyan president in 2002 he continued to head KANU until early 2005.

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