The 30th day of December 2002 was a day many Kenyans had waited for quite a long time.
This was the day to mark the end of Moi’s 24 years of what many referred to as dictatorship rule. That was the day retired President Moi was to hand over power to Mwai Kibaki at Uhuru Park. This after Mwai Kibaki had emerged a winner of the 2002 general election with a landslide. Millions of Kenyans had thronged Uhuru Park to witness the inauguration of Mwai Kibaki as the third president of Kenya. Kenyans were cheerful and in celebratory mood as they awaited the handing over ceremony and taking of the oath of office by Mwai Kibaki. “Today is the first day in our history that we can call ourselves free. It is not even our second liberation, it is our first,” said Dismus Gikonyo, an opposition supporter.
Meanwhile, as Moi’s convoy was entering Uhuru Park, it was pelted with clods of mud as Mwai Kibaki’s supporters shouted “Thief,Thief, Thief.”
As this was happening, Mr. Kibaki who was on a wheelchair following his earlier accident, received the biggest cheer during his speech. He promised to charge all victims of corruption allied to the Moi regime as Moi watched speechless amid a cheerful crowd.#historynow