Daniel Toroitich arap Moi CGH (/ˈmoʊiː/ MOH-ee; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020)[2] was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002.

As independence approached, Moi joined the Kenyan delegation which travelled to London for the Lancaster House Conferences, where the country's first post-independence constitution was drafted.

Inquiries held after the end of his presidency found evidence that Moi and his sons had engaged in significant levels of corruption, including the 1990s Goldenberg scandal.

Moi was one of the herdsboys from Sacho location recommended to join the new Africa Inland Mission (AIM) School at Kabartonjo in 1934 before it was shifted to Kapsabet.

He was the chosen replacement of Dr. John ole Tameno, the former representative who had had to quit due to heavy drinking and suspected connections to the freedom movement.

Moi was part of the Kenyan delegation at the Lancaster House Conferences in London, which drafted the country's first post-independence constitution, and in 1961, he became Minister of Education in the pre-independence government.

The advantage lay with the numerically stronger KANU, and the first post-independence constitution emphasised national unity, structuring the country as a unitary state.

[15] After Kenya gained independence on 12 December 1963, Kenyatta convinced Moi that KADU and KANU should merge to complete the process of decolonisation.

However, political realities dictated that he would continue to be beholden to the system of government that Kenyatta had created and to whose headship he had acceded, including the nearly dictatorial powers vested in his office.

From the beginning, anti-communism was an important theme of Moi's government; speaking on the new President's behalf, Vice-President Mwai Kibaki bluntly stated, "There is no room for Communists in Kenya.

"[21] On 1 August 1982, lower-level Air Force personnel, led by Senior Private Grade-I Hezekiah Ochuka and backed by university students, attempted a coup d'état to oust Moi.

[22] There may have been two or even three independent groups attempting to seize power at the same time, for differing reasons, but the most serious was led by prominent Kikuyu politicians and members of the police and armed forces.

[24] Moi appointed loyalists to key positions and changed the constitution to formally make KANU the only legally permitted party in the country.

Kenya's academics and other intelligentsia did not accept this and educational institutions across the country became sites of movements that sought to introduce democratic reforms.

Western governments also became more hostile to the KANU regime, a change of policy from the time of the Cold War, when Kenya had been viewed as an important regional stabilizer, preventing the spread of Soviet influence beyond Ethiopia, Somalia, and Tanzania.

During that time, Kenya had received much foreign aid, and the country was accepted as a stable, if authoritarian, regime with Moi and the KANU firmly in charge.

One of the key conditions imposed on his regime, especially by the United States through fiery ambassador Smith Hempstone, was the restoration of a multi-party system.

Moi announced his intention to repeal Section 2(A) of the constitution, lifting the ban on opposition parties, at a KANU conference in Kasarani in December 1991.

Moi skillfully exploited Kenya's mix of ethnic tensions in these contests, gaining a plurality in both elections through a mix of picking votes across the country while his opponents' support was more concentrated, attracting votes from smaller tribes, and the Luhya, and taking advantage of fears of Kikuyu domination over the non-Kikuyu majority.

[28] In 1999, the findings of NGOs like Amnesty International and a special investigation by the United Nations were published, and they indicated that human rights abuses were prevalent in Kenya under the Moi regime.

As the inquiry progressed, Moi, his two sons; Philip and Gideon (now a Senator), and his daughter, June, as well as a host of high-ranking Kenyans, were implicated.

In a testimony delivered in late July 2003, Treasury Permanent Secretary Joseph Magari recounted that in 1991 Moi ordered him to pay Ksh34.5 million ($460,000) to Goldenberg, contrary to the laws then in force.

Maathai received communication during that time that an assassination list had been drawn up, and noted the mysterious deaths of Bishop Alexander Muge and Robert Ouko.

The businessman, Ali Nasir, claimed to have paid Moi US$2 million in cash to obtain government approval for the World Duty Free Limited investment in Kenya.

Some of his supporters flirted with the idea of amending the constitution to allow him to run for a third term, but Moi preferred to retire, choosing Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's first President, as his successor.

After the proposal was defeated in a November 2005 constitutional referendum, President Kibaki called Moi to arrange for a meeting to discuss the way forward.

[11] It was at the Bometts that Moi sought shelter during school holidays, unable to return home, 160 kilometres away, like the older boys.

With the marriage, Lena abandoned her career as a teacher and immersed herself in bringing up her family, settling down with Moi at Tambach Government School, where his first two children, Jennifer and Jonathan Kipkemboi, were born in 1952 and 1953 respectively.

[55][56][57][58] He was buried at his Kabarak home on 12 February 2020,[59] complete with military honors which included a 19-gun salute followed by a missing man formation flyby.