Daniel arap Moi | |
|---|---|
 Moi in 1979 | |
| 2nd President of Kenya | |
| In office 22 August 1978 – 30 December 2002 | |
| Vice President |
|
| Preceded by | Jomo Kenyatta |
| Succeeded by | Mwai Kibaki |
| Chairperson of the OAU | |
| In office 24 June 1981 – 6 June 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Siaka Stevens |
| Succeeded by | Mengistu Haile Mariam |
| 3rd Vice President of Kenya | |
| In office 5 January 1967 – 22 August 1978 | |
| President | Jomo Kenyatta |
| Preceded by | Joseph Murumbi |
| Succeeded by | Mwai Kibaki |
| Minister for Home Affairs | |
| In office 28 December 1964 – 9 April 1978 | |
| President | Jomo Kenyatta |
| Member of Parliament | |
| In office 5 December 1963 – 20 December 2002 | |
| Succeeded by | Gideon Moi |
| Constituency |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Toroitich Arap Moi 2 September 1924 Sacho, Baringo, Kenya Colony |
| Died | 4 February 2020 (aged 95) Nairobi, Kenya |
| Political party | |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 8, including Gideon |
| Alma mater | Tambach TTC |
| Profession | Teacher |
| Awards | Silver World Award (1981) |
| Signature |  |
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi CGH (/ˈmoʊiː/ MOH-ee; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020)[2] 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.[3]
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,[4] both of which have generally been regarded as neither free nor fair by independent observers.[5][6][7][8] 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.[9]
- ^ John Kamau (17 November 2013). "The First Lady Kenya never had". Archived from the original on 19 November 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
- ^ East, Roger; Thomas, Richard J. (3 June 2014). Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders. Routledge. ISBN 9781317639404. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ^ Live updates and photos: Mzee Moi's remains at Parliament Buildings. Archived from the original on 9 March 2024. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
- ^ "Profile of Daniel arap Moi". State House. Archived from the original on 5 July 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
- ^ Carver, Richard (1 January 1994). "Kenya Since the Elections". Refworld. WRITENET. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- ^ Atwood, J. Brian (2 September 1992). "Kenya's Rigged Election". csmonitor.com. The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- ^ Ajulu, Rok (June 1998). "Kenya's Democracy Experiment: The 1997 Elections". Review of African Political Economy. 25 (76). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 275–285. doi:10.1080/03056249808704315. ISSN 0305-6244. JSTOR 4006548. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- ^ Arne Tostensen, Bård-Anders Andreassen and Kjetil Tronvoll (February 1998). "Kenya's hobbled democracy revisited: the 1997 general elections in retrospect and prospect". Human Rights Reports (2). Norwegian Institute of Human Rights. OCLC 41330580. Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
- ^ Kenya's former President Daniel arap Moi has died, aged 96[permanent dead link] Al Jazeera, 4 February 2020