Despite being fairly educated, retired President Daniel Moi's mastery of politics was exemplary according to those who interacted with him.
In fact, before his retirement, most people called him a professor of politics because of his ability to make the right judgments in a field of politics.
ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi, in his book Soaring Above the Storms of Passion, writes of a day when Moi shocked his team, particularly Vice President George Saitoti.
Saitoti, Musalia writes, had been tasked to gather views on whether Kenya was ready for pluralism in 1991. Having done his job, Saitoti tabled a report which ruled out the possibility of multiparty democracy.
“When Prof Saitoti gave his report, amid obvious filibustering, it was only to say Kenyans were by and large very happy with Kanu. Apart from a few issues here and there, the professor of mathematics said, Kenyans were of the view that Kanu was leading the country in the right direction,” he writes.
With Saitoti and his team optimistic that Moi would support the report, the retired President shocked them when he dismissed it, contrary to their expectations.
Terming it defective, Moi insisted that the country should embrace pluralism, leaving Saitoti and the team fighting the new reality.
“I can see that you do not understand how the world works. Kenya is not an island. We are part of the world and the world is changing,” he began to wild protests of no, no, no after which he said: “If they want many parties let us give them.”
“Why do you allow a single rally in Nairobi to worry you? We have the whole country behind us. You will see what happens,” Moi told them in the wake of the Ford rally in Kamukunji.
Moi went on to predict the break of the opposition, which came true. Ford broke to Ford Kenya and Ford Asili which went on to lose to Moi in 1992 and 1997.