Retired President Daniel Moi is currently considered one of the richest persons in the country, probably judging by his long service as the nation’s top leader.
However, Moi was not initially attracted to politics and was a teacher by profession.
In 1955, he reluctantly quit teaching to join the Legislative Council (LegCo) as the Rift Valley representative, on the request of the British colonialists.
Initially earning Sh250 as a head teacher, a rise from Sh47 when he began as a P3 tutor, the Britons tripled his pay to Sh833 when he agreed to take the leadership offer.
The colonialists did their best to install him as a national politician as he was the most promising to aid them to achieve their interests in the Rift Valley region, where they had a lot at stake, including land, when the nation got her independence.
And when Kenya finally got her independence in 1963, the British championed his unity with founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who would later appoint him his Vice President.
And when Kenyatta died in 1978, Moi, who was facing opposition from Kenyatta’s inner circle and the Mt Kenya Mafia, somehow managed to ascend to the top seat, leading for 24 years until his ouster in 2002.
Moi who is both aging and ailing has since switched to a silent lifestyle at his Kabarak home in Nakuru county.
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