• Moi was first admitted to the medical institution in October for what was then referred to as “normal check-up”
• He is currently on life support machine and was recently put on dialysis
Image: PSCU
Former President Daniel Moi is still at the Intensive Care Unit of The Nairobi Hospital. Leaders appealed to Kenyans to remember him in prayers.
Moi was first admitted to the hospital on October 10 for what was then referred to as “normal check-up”. He was discharged but was re-admitted on October 28.
He left the hospital shortly thereafter but was back on November 11. He has not left the health facility since then.
Up to December 27, the retired President has since October spent 47 days in the hospital.
While multiple hospital sources describe his condition as stable, it is understood the retired head of state is on a life support machine and was also recently put on a dialysis machine, a pointer that his kidneys may have also developed complications.
On Friday last week, during a graduation ceremony at Kabarak University his son Gideon thanked Kenyans for praying for Mzee Moi.
The Baringo senator said that while his father's health was not the best, he was improving.
The former President's medical team, led by his personal physician David Silverstein, is said to be managing recurring chest complications that affect his breathing.
During Moi's first admission, he was treated for pleural effusion, a medical condition in which excess fluids accumulate around the lung.
His latest chest issues are compounded by the knee pain he has been nursing since a 2006 car accident in Limuru.
In March 2018, Moi was flown to Israel following "an uncomfortable knee."
On January 27, 2017, he underwent minor knee surgery at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi.
His long-time friend and Africa Inland Church presiding bishop Silas Yego yesterday told the Star that Mzee is praying and singing his favourite Christian songs at his hospital bed.
The long-serving AIC bishop said three weeks ago he visited Moi at The Nairobi Hospital and the former head of state told him that “God’s grace is sufficient for him”.
“We had a wonderful time. He told me God is there for me (him) and he mentioned one thing in 2 Corinthians 12-9 which says My grace is sufficient for you,” Yego told the Star in the phone interview.
He added: “I have been praying for him on a daily basis and I know God will deliver this man of God. I would like to join many Kenyans who are praying for President Moi.”
Yego said Moi is “experiencing normal challenges which we want God to deliver him from” and called on Kenyans to keep praying for him.
“I have been his pastor for over three decades now and I have known him personally as a man of prayer. Even now when he is having some physical challenges due to old age, I know he prays a lot.”
Bishop Robert Lang’at of the Africa Gospel Church of Kenya described Moi as a good man who oversaw the growth of churches and schools during his tenure as the President.
He also called on Kenyans to stand with Mzee Moi in prayers.
“He is our father and friend. We are praying and wishing him well so that come 2020, he will be out of the hospital and of sound health. He helped us build schools and we in AGC, are always grateful for his good work. He has touched all of us in one way or the other.”
Kisumu Catholic Archbishop Philip Anyolo said, "Moi has been in our prayers" since he was admitted to the hospital.
"When we meet as a congregation, we pray for him and other leaders. I want to urge my fellow Kenyans to keep praying for President Moi," he told the Star on phone.
Moi, 95, took over as Kenya's second president following the death of founding President Jomo Kenyatta in August 1978.
He joined active politics in 1955 when he was selected to the colonial Legislative Council, famously known as Legco, to represent Rift Valley region.