Kenyans are in mourning after it was confirmed that their retirted former president Daniel Arap Moi died on Tuesday at the age of 95.
Making the announcement on national television, President Uhuru Kenyatta described Moi as a great man zho servied Kenya well.
From Tuesday, flags have been flying at half-mast ahead of a state funeral for which no date has been announced.
Moi who ruled Kenya for 24 years, has been terminally ill and was late last year admitted at a hospital in Nairobi over a respiratory infection but released days later.
He stepped down from the presidency in 2002.
Kenya’s longest-serving president was handpicked by Uhuru’s father Jomo Kenyatta to succeed him before his passing in 1978.
Moi’s political opponents described him as a despotic ruler who routinely quashed dissent and presided over widespread corruption.
Two years after relinquishing power, Moi had gone in public with an apology over his mistakes as president and called for forgiveness from the Kenyan nation especially from those who bore the brunt under his rule.
However, his supporters saw him as a leading light in ensuring Kenyan peace and stability for decades.
Moi was born as Toroitich arap (son of) Moi in Kuriengwo village on 2 September 1924 but lost both his father and month and was under the guardianship of his elder brother, Tuitoek.
In his years as a boy, Moi was a herdsboy before he was enroled at Africa Inland Mission (AIM) in 1934 and later converted to Christianity, adopting the name Daniel.
He was a student at the Kagumo Teacher’s College before he became a teacher at the Tambacha Teacher’s Training College.
He would eventually rise to be a headmaster before he ventured into politics to found the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) which would later coalesce with the Kenya Africa National Union (KANU) of Jomo Kenyatta after first unsuccessfully challenging it for political supremacy.
Moi was appointed vice president by Jomo Kenyatta in 1967 and ascended to the Kenyan presidency shortly after his predecessor’s death in 1978.
WN/as/APA