• Kanu sycophants out to please Moi had suggested that anyone spotted flashing the opposition symbol in public should have the two fingers chopped off, but, fortunately, Moi never heeded their call.
• External defiance was handled with a sledgehammer, with detention being Moi’s favourite punishment. Many had to seek political asylum to evade detention.
Had President Daniel Arap Moi and Kanu stayed in power much longer, quite a number of Kenyans, more so multiparty proponents, would today be without two right-hand fingers.
Not that the former president and his party belonged to a cult. Rather, Moi and Kanu had a loathing for the two-finger salute, which was the opposition’s identity — a sign of victory, which, however, took time to be won after false steps in the first two general elections.
Since Independence, Kanu’s greeting and rallying symbol has been the right-hand index finger salute. The opposition, on the other hand, adopted the right-hand index and middle finger salute as their symbol and greeting.
Kanu sycophants out to please Moi had suggested that anyone spotted flashing the opposition symbol in public should have the two fingers chopped off, but, fortunately, Moi never heeded their call.
In his 24-year rule, he had to contend with internal opposition in Kanu and later external criticism after he made room for the reintroduction of multi-partyism.
When Moi took power in 1978, Kenya was a multiparty state, but only on paper. His predecessor, Jomo Kenyatta, had crushed any opposition with the proscription of the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga-led Kenya People’s Union in 1969.
Kenyatta, however, did not change the law to make Kenya a single-party state.
The 1982 coup attempt left Moi shell-shocked, and among the many changes he undertook was to quickly marshal his loyalists to change the Constitution, making Kenya a single-party state, with Kanu as the sole political outfit.
With Kanu firmly under his control, Moi easily dealt with any internal dissent by expelling errant members, rigging out others in elections, financially crippling enemies and sacking wayward ministers.
External defiance was handled with a sledgehammer, with detention being Moi’s favourite punishment. Many had to seek political asylum to evade detention.
He equally put the media on a leash through different laws, among them criminal libel, to ensure they did not give the opposition a voice.
The provincial administration and security apparatus were used to clamp down on opposition politicians from the grassroots to the national level.
Raila Odinga, Martin Shikuku, Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia, George Anyona, Koigi wa Wamwere, James Orengo, Mwandawiro Mghanga, journalists Paul Amina and Pius Nyamora, university dons Micere Mugo, Maina wa Kinyatti and Edward Oyugi among other critics, ended up in detention or fled the country.
Despite his strong-arm tactics to contain dissent, the pressure for multi-partyism did not ease. University students, lecturers, civil society groups, donors, the media and the West pushed Moi to the wall.
As a safety valve to ease the pressure, Moi and Kanu eventually made some constitutional changes in 1991 by repealing Section 2A that had made Kenya a single-party state under the old Constitution. The concession also allowed the introduction of a two-term limit of five years each for the president.
For the first time since assuming power, Moi was now going to face off with the opposition during the 1992 election. With formal external opposition, he had to change tack, having been used to dictating terms in Kanu.
The Forum for Restoration of Democracy (Ford), led by Jaramogi and the Democratic Party (DP) led by Mwai Kibaki emerged as formidable threats to Moi in the run-up to the election.
But being the schemer he was, Moi knew it would take the opposition time to organise itself — the reason he made the constitutional changes just months to the election, giving his opponents little time to register or even put in place proper structures.
As Matiba, whom he had just been released from detention, received treatment abroad, Moi and his team were not resting on their laurels. Breaking up Ford, which was seen as the main threat, topped the agenda.
Moi soon started hosting some opposition leaders, including the late Martin Shikuku, to ‘ugali sessions’ at State House and soon there was a split in Ford, giving birth to Ford Kenya led by Jaramogi and Ford Asili led by Matiba and Shikuku.
Moi knew Matiba’s entry into the presidential race would be to his benefit. Firstly, it would split the Kikuyu vote and deny Kibaki maximum support from the Kikuyu community.
Secondly, the masterstroke was that it would diminish Ford’s near-fanatical countrywide support. The falling-out would strike a devastating blow to the opposition.
Ford Asili was quickly registered. Come to the election, Moi emerged victorious in the first multiparty polls under his regime, surviving the first serious onslaught by the opposition.
For the next five years, he orchestrated defections, used government projects to win support in opposition areas and continued with his divide-and-rule tactic to ensure there was no meaningful opposition.
In 1997, a divided opposition comprising Raila, Kibaki, Charity Ngilu and Kijana Wamalwa travelled the same 1992 path. Come election time, Moi once again floored them amid claims of rigging to serve his second and last term under multi-partyism.
To ensure Kanu had control of Parliament, he roped in Raila and his National Development Party (NDP) into what was termed as cooperation. This gave him some breathing space as he served his last term. Meanwhile, he was busy crafting his succession plan.
Raila and his NDP party merged with Kanu, but were soon on their way out. Hoping to ride on Moi and Kanu for his presidential bid, the then-Lang’ata legislator was disappointed when he realised the old professor of politics had other plans.
Moi rooted for Uhuru Kenyatta to take over from him. Thankfully, by 2002 the opposition had learnt the hard way that unless they united, Kanu would remain in power, even after Moi’s exit.
Hotel meetings, sacrifices, betrayals and the Kibaki Tosha rallying call finally saw Raila, Kibaki, Ngilu, Wamalwa and Kanu diehards such as Kalonzo Musyoka, George Saitoti, William Ntimama, Moody Awori and JJ Kamotho come together to form the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc), ending Kanu’s, and by extension Moi’s, hold on the country’s politics.
Love him or hate him, Moi shaped Kenya’s politics and his place in the country’s history cannot be reduced to a footnote.