Mzee Daniel Moi had troubles in bringing up his young family after divorcing his wife Lena Moi, forcing presidential guards to at times discipline the teenagers, reports Andrew Morton in Moi's biography, the Making of African Statesman.
By that time, Moi had seven children; Jenifer, Jonathan, John Mark, Raymond, Phikip, Doris, Gideon and June. June was adopted by the retired president and he's the closest child him.
At the teenage and with absence of the mother, the children had to undergo the wrath of presidential guards who assumed the roles of mentoring them.
“This combination of absence and sternness produced the inevitable backlash, and as adolescents, the boys rebelled against their father’s austere moral code," observes Morton.
Shortly after Moi divorced Lena in 1974, he took his children with him to Kabarak but Jonathan, who was 20, remained close to his mother — an issue that would create a wedge between him, his father and the siblings.
Jonathan built his home in Kabimoi — close to his mother — and was the occasional visitor. While all the other of Moi’s children stayed close to their father, they grew up without seeing much of their mother.
“He enmeshed himself in the local scene, and would drink beer with locals. That is how he lived,” says a close friend of Jonathan.
While other children leads a quiet life, Jonathan, who died last week, chose to also stay a quiet life. Only Gideon and Raymond are in politics like their father was.
For Philip, the notorious of the eight, he's said to have been forced to join Kenya Defense Forces due to his character (to be disciplined). He retired as a Major and has been leading a troubled marriage with his wife Rosanna Pluda.