The death of Moi and what makes Kenya complicated

Retired president Daniel arap Moi has rested.

I began schooling when Moi was president and cleared the 8-4-4 system, which was part of his many initiatives, with him still ruling.

I started working when he was still in power. Much of my life has marks of the Moi rule.

Although his reign had some bright spots and shortcomings, Kenya’s entire history, pre-independence and post-independence, has been all rotten.

Post-independence Kenya did not and has not lived to expectations. The shortcomings of bad politics, bad economic policies and rotten culture of corruption and tribalism have failed Kenya all through.

All along, Kenya’s tribes have been in ruthless political and economic competition. During Jomo Kenyatta’s reign there was a coalescing of what was regarded as the Kiambu Mafia, a tribal cabal that had no time for Mzee Moi.

That he survived their machinations to ride into power was pure luck and political ingenuity. That Moi was regarded in some quarters as a passing cloud in political terms and with not so much of education to write home about, but went on to rule Kenya for 24 good years, shows the  former president had accumulated immense political skills that could not be underrated or was mistakenly underrated to his own advantage.

All through surviving the political undercurrents with plenty of ups and downs shows the level of political maneuvering he did. 

Kenya has not grown any better politically since Moi presided over political transition in 2002. Negative ethnicity and corruption have only grown bigger and worse. Kenya has created her own brand of politics that centres on ethnicity.

These are shortcomings that do not yield a stable democracy in future and it is high time efforts were made to fix the nonsense.

Moi was lucky to get to politics at the right time. So much worked in his favour, including various formations and fall-outs that saw him get to power constitutionally.

So much of his long reign was deeply influenced by the actions and shortcomings of his predecessor, the existing ethnic equations therein, events such as the attempted 1982 military coup and the West versus East global ideological fights that influenced politics in many parts of the world, including Kenya.

Whether his regime could have done better in the so complicated circumstances, local and international, is a good subject for discussion.

But it is up to the current government to work to a better future for the country. 

Harrison Ikunda, Nairobi.