NAIROBI — President Yoweri Museveni has joined thousands of Kenyans and other mourners to celebrate the life of President Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, at the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi.
“In Africa, leaders are like doctors. You must properly diagnose what ails your country lest it stays in perpetual trouble”.
He said that Presidents Moi and Jomo Kenyatta did a good diagnostic job, explaining why Kenya has been stable and that this is exemplified in Moi’s decision in 1964 to fold his KADU party and join KANU.
Museveni said this was patriotic and set a base for unity for Kenya and its sustained peace and stability.
“President Moi was a true East African. He did not only work for the political and economic integration of the region but had a real emotional attachment to it”
“On several occasions he asked me to let him visit places in Uganda that he felt attached to”.
“I also remember him as a very conciliatory person. In 1987, when some troublemakers misled him to close the border with Uganda, he was open to talks. We met in Teso, Kenya, resolve the issues and worked closely”.
Museveni extended his condolences to President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Moi family, Kenya and the region upon loss of this icon.
Kenya’s former President Moi died at the age of 95.
Mr Moi was Kenya’s longest-serving president. He was in office for 24 years, until intense pressure forced him to step down in 2002.
His critics saw him as an authoritarian ruler who oversaw rampant corruption, but his allies credited him for maintaining stability in the country.
In 2004, Mr Moi asked for forgiveness from “those he had wronged”.
