Daniel arap Moi

Daniel arap Moi, 1979

Daniel Toroitich arap Moi (born September 2, 1924 in Kurieng'wo near Sacho , Baringo District ; † February 4, 2020 in Nairobi ) was second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002 .

Life

Daniel arap Moi came from the Tugen ethnic group , a group of the Kalenjin . After his father died early, his mother Kima Chebii raised him alone. Eldoret can be considered the capital of the Kalenjin . Later, as president, he always specifically promoted this city.

From 1934 Moi attended primary schools of the African Inland Mission in Kabartonjo and Kapsabet . In 1942 he moved to the Secondary School in Kapsabet. After attending the Teacher Training College in Kapsabet in 1945, he worked as a teacher in the Government African School Tambach in Tambach until 1947 . Daniel arap Moi became headmaster of the Government African International School in Kabarnet in 1948 . From 1949 to 1950 he worked in teacher training. At the Tambach Teacher Training College in Kabarnet he worked from 1950 to 1955 as deputy director.

In 1950 he married Helena Bommet, who then became known as Lena Moi. The divorce took place in 1974. Together they had eight children, three daughters and five sons.

He had suffered from dementia since 2017 and was hospitalized in October 2019, where a pleural effusion was diagnosed. He died in Nairobi in February 2020. President Uhuru Kenyatta then ordered national mourning .

politics

Member of Parliament

For the Rift Valley , Daniel arap Moi was elected a member of the Legislative Council (German: "Legislative Council") in 1955 . From 1957 to 1976 he represented the constituency Baringo-Nord in the Legislative Council and the National Assembly . From 1957 to 1963 he was chairman of the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU), which he founded with Ronald Ngala . She competed with the Kenya African National Union (KANU) led by Jomo Kenyatta . In contrast to the KANU, which was centralized and dominated by the populous ethnic groups such as Kikuyu and the Luo , the KADU wanted to strengthen the smaller ethnic groups such as the Kalenjin through a federal constitution. However, the pressure from KANU was so great that the British colonial authorities did not include any federal elements in the new constitution. In 1961 Moi was elected to the newly established National Assembly for the first time. In 1961 he was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary to the Minister of Education and he joined KANU.

minister

In 1962 Moi himself was appointed minister of education in the pre-independence government. Later that year he was appointed Minister of Local Government; he held the office until 1964. After independence on December 18, 1963, Moi agreed to the merger of KANU and KADU desired by Jomo Kenyatta , making Kenya practically a one-party state. Moi became Minister of the Interior in 1964 and Vice President in 1967. He held these offices until 1978.

president

President Moi with US President George W. Bush at the UN headquarters in New York on November 10, 2001

When Kenyatta, the "father of independence", died on August 22, 1978, Moi became his inheritance. He became acting president of the Republic of Kenya and chairman of the KANU party. He proclaimed the Nyayo philosophy ( Nyayo = "steps") of peace, love and unity (Peace, Love and Unity). Unlike his predecessor, he kept in touch with citizens and traveled extensively in the country. In 1979 he was first confirmed as President of Kenya in a general election. Between 1981 and 1983 Moi was chairman of the Organization for African Unity (OAU). On August 1, 1982, parts of the Air Force attempted a coup .

In 1986 Moi published the book Kenya African Nationalism on Nyayo Philosophy . He was re-elected as president in 1988 and 1992. During the free elections in December 1992, there were considerable unrest, assaults and deaths, for example in Molo or Kipkarren . In 1997, Moi was elected president again in free elections. In 2002 he was not allowed to run again for election; he named the first president's son, Uhuru Kenyatta , a candidate for president. The election, however, was won by a National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) headed by Moi's former Vice President Mwai Kibaki .

After his presidency

Moi campaigned for the “no” camp in the run-up to the constitutional referendum in 2010 , but even before the referendum called on supporters and opponents to respect the result of the vote, no matter how it turned out.

Corruption and Autocratic Leadership

Moi's reign was marked by violations of human rights and the freedom of the press. No trial prison for critics of the regime and torture in the basements of the Nyayo House in central Nairobi were part of his regime's practice. Oppositionists had to go into exile (e.g. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o ) and there were murders of critical politicians (including Foreign Minister Robert Ouko in 1990 ) and missionaries (around 2000 "car accidents" and gunshot wounds to the American Father John Kaiser ). A British commission of inquiry blamed Industry Secretary Nicholas Biwott for Ouko's death. Political demonstrations ended in bloodbaths, around 1990 in Nairobi with around 100 dead. On August 31, 2007, the British daily The Guardian published an exposé about billion-dollar corruption in the Mois family. The newspaper relied on a report published by WikiLeaks . Moi was also involved in the Goldenberg scandal .

Awards

• 1979: Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Christina Ruta: Kenya's ex-president Daniel arap Moi is dead. In: dw.com . February 4, 2020, accessed February 4, 2020 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Daniel Toroitich arap Moi: Profiles. State House Kenya, archived from the original on July 5, 2014 ; accessed on February 4, 2020 (English).  
3. ^ Robert Alai: Former President Daniel Arap Moi Suffering from Dementia. In: KahawaTungu. August 29, 2017, accessed February 4, 2020 . 
4. ^ Neema Amani: All about the condition former President Moi is being treated for in ICU. In: mpasho. October 29, 2019, accessed February 4, 2020 . 
5. ^ Robert D. McFadden: Daniel arap Moi, Who Ruled Kenya for Decades, Dies at 95. In: NYTimes.com . February 3, 2020, accessed February 4, 2020 . 
6. ↑ David Signer: Kenya's ex-president Daniel arap Moi has died. In: nzz.ch . February 4, 2020, accessed February 4, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Katy Salmon: Kenya president Moi's last speech before stepping down. ipsnews.com of March 12, 2002 (English), accessed February 5, 2020
8. ↑ Xan Rice: The looting of Kenya. In: theguardian.com . August 31, 2007, accessed February 4, 2020 .