Monday, December 30, 2002, will always be a day for former Secretary to the Cabinet and the Head of Civil Service Sally Kosgei to remember.
This was the day Kenya's third Head of State, retired President Mwai Kibaki, was sworn-in at the Uhuru Park in Nairobi.
Due to his position in government, Kosgei was among few top civil servants who accompanied retired President Daniel Arap Moi to hand over power to Kibaki.
But after the ceremony, the huge crowd which had attended the function turned chaotic to Moi and the dignitaries who had accompanied him to the venue.
Kosgei, who was a confidant of Moi and a government insider, was caught up in the fracas and had to leave Uhuru Park in a haste to save her life.
“If I lost my shoe then it was at Uhuru Park where we were attacked and I had to dash to my colleague’s car for safety. My car’s windscreen was shattered. I arrived at State House with one shoe,” she said in an interview on Saturday.
Kosgei was dismissing claims that she left the State House in one shoe when accompanying Moi to Kabarak moments after Kibaki was inaugurated.
The reports are contained in the new book by Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi, 'Soaring Above the Storms of Passion'.
“Head of Public Service Sally Kosgei wept. She was one of the few people to accompany him in one chopper. As she boarded, one of her shoes came off and was left at State House as the chopper’s door was closed, ready for take-off,” Mudavadi writes.
Kosgei rubbished the shoe issue but admitted she wept when she saw Moi fly out of the residence he occupied for 24 years.
“I was ashamed for all that had happened at Uhuru Park. Some of the dignitaries left in shame. Most of them knew me by my first name. It all weighed down heavily on me,” she explained the reasons behind her weeping.
Kosgei, who later become MP for Aldai and Minister for Higher Education in Kibaki's administration, further clarified she did not accompany Moi to Kabarak and accused Mudavadi of giving misleading information.
“He certainly did not write that part of the book. If he did, then he should pursue fiction writing in the future. I was a civil servant; how could I follow a retiring president to his home? I had no business accompanying him,” she recalled.
“Most of these people have no clue what was happening. I consider Musalia to be a very pleasant person and that is why I am surprised he would write such things without even consulting or interviewing me,” Kosgei added.