Kenya’s second president dies aged 95

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – Kenya’s longest serving president, Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, has died, the presidency in Kenya confirmed Tuesday.

“It is with profound sadness and sorrow that I announce the passing of a great African statesman, H.E. Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi, the second president of the Republic of Kenya. His excellency the former president passed on at the Nairobi Hospital on the early morning of this 4th February 2020 in the presence of his family,” Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta said in a presidential proclamation.

Moi, who was 95, had been in and out of the hospital, where he was put on life support machines following recurring medical complications that were tied to his age.

Born on Sept. 2, 1924 in Kabarak village in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, he was the second president of the Republic of Kenya and rose all the way from being a cattle herder to a teacher and finally becoming the country’s leader.

Moi came to power following the death of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, in 1978.

In 2002, the long-serving president, who has left behind seven children, decided not to run again in Kenyan elections, completely exiting and retiring from politics.

Since officially joining politics in 1955, Moi served as an educator, a teacher, a legislator, a member of parliament, a cabinet minister, vice president and finally as president of the Republic of Kenya.

In his statement, Kenyatta ordered and directed that “in testimony of the respect in which the memory of the Late Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi is held, the nation will observe a period of national mourning from today until the day of his funeral.”

Kenyatta added that Moi shall be accorded a state funeral with all appropriate civilian and full military honors being rendered and observed.

Further, Kenya has ordered that the flag of the Republic of Kenya shall be flown at half-mast at the State House, state lodges, all public buildings and public grounds, all military bases, posts and stations, on all naval vessels of the Republic of Kenya and elsewhere throughout the country from dawn on Feb. 4 until sunset on the day of his burial.

Kenyatta directed that the Kenyan national flag shall be flown at half-mast for the same length of time at all high commissions, embassies, consulates, diplomatic offices and other facilities of Kenya abroad.