{UAH} Standard Digital News - Kenya : Leaders salute former president Moi as he celebrates 90th birthday
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Standard Digital News - Kenya : Leaders salute former president Moi as he celebrates 90th birthday
Kenya: On a sultry afternoon in early 1985 in Nairobi, a dark unmarked green van pulled up at the gate of the General Service Unit ( GSU) headquarters on Thika road.
An unidentified man stepped out of the vehicle. Accompanied by two uniformed soldiers, he walked through the gate and disappeared among a cluster of buildings in the heavily guarded premise. He was not to be seen again in public.
Fast forward to August 2014 and the man, now in his early 70s, sits in the highest office of one of Africa's most memorable countries.
Stepping into State House in Entebbe - the fortress of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni - is like stepping into a political time-warp.
For 27 years Museveni has ruled over Uganda; in fact his name is almost synonymous with Uganda.
Yet the man does not hesitate to give credit for his success to a man who was at the helm of leadership nearly as long as himself.
Museveni says retired President Daniel Moi played a big role in his ascending to power, adding that Moi came to his aid on many occasions in times of need. "Moi gave me a safe haven during our struggle for second liberation in Uganda. He literary hid me at the GSU barracks in Nairobi while we fought Milton Obote and later General Tito Okello in Uganda," Museveni says rather emphatically.
"I occasionally needed to slip away for my own safety and to strategise on our operations and Nairobi was one of the places I ran to. To date this is one of the things I remember Moi for and thank him. He not only extended this support to me but also to my family as well because my wife and children lived in Nairobi for a while before they moved to Sweden," he reveals.
Museveni was involved in the war that deposed former dictator Idi Amin Dada, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Obote regime in 1985.
He would again wage war against the government of Okello - his former army commander who took over from Obote - accusing Okello of having been discredited by gross human rights violations during the Obote regime.
The leader, through his National Resistance Army, toppled Okello's government on January 25, 1986, and he was named president.
However, initially, the Kenyan government was rather suspicious of the new National Resistance Movement regime over alleged support for dissident groups-especially at a time when the agitation for political change in Kenya heightened.
Indeed, tensions were high in late 1987 culminating in a non-violent military standoff at Busia on the Kenya-Uganda border. Any closure of the border would have been catastrophic to Uganda, which is a land-locked country and which relies on the port of Mombasa for its imports and exports.
But, last week Museveni dismissed such incidents as minor adding they were resolved amicably and diplomatically. "There were some small misunderstandings between us and Kenya, especially when Raila Odinga and Koigi wa Wamwere passed through here," he says.
Museveni adds: "At the time we did not believe in returning people for political reasons after what we went through ourselves during our struggles, so we let a few political dissidents pass through."
He also remembers a brief diplomatic spat with Kenya in the mid 80s involving the use of the Kenya-Uganda railway.
At that time, the Kenyan government insisted goods from Uganda and other East African countries to and from the port of Mombasa be transported by Kenatco trucks, which Uganda resisted. "We saw the railway as a cheaper option than the trucks. Moreover the trucks damaged the roads making their use even more implausible," says Museveni.
After several meetings between the two leaders, the problem was finally resolved at a meeting in Busia. "I remember we used to meet with the retired president regularly despite engaging our diplomats on the issue. At one point we met at a primary school in Busia where the issue was finally resolved," he says.
But Museveni's association with Moi started early: "I first met Mzee Moi in Dar es Salaam, while I was a student there. As a political science a student I used to follow political events in East Africa closely and would analyse politicians like Moi and Julius Nyerere," he says.
The leader says he studied economics and political science at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania where he became a Marxist, involving himself in radical pan-African politics and forming the students' African Revolutionary Front activist group.
He says after assuming power in Uganda, Moi and he worked closely to revive the East African Community. "I remember Moi was very passionate about African unity and especially the East African Community. He would constantly invoke the EA treaty's Article 5(2)A, which states that the community should be a federation," he states.
Even as a military man who is no stranger to personal discipline, Museveni still remembers Moi as a strict disciplinarian. "Moi was a disciplinarian personified. Even with my military training it was sometimes difficult catching up with him. He particularly hated people who were late and those who did not do things according to instructions," Museveni points out adding: "I believe that discipline contributed to his long stint in office and life."
What about the notion that Moi did certain things in order to become more popular?
"On the contrary I think Moi was a realist who did most things to benefit society. Tell me, if Moi found you drinking would he buy you more alcohol and urge you to continue drinking? No instead he would rebuke and tell you how alcohol is bad for you," Museveni explains.
He also remembers the retired president as a staunch Christian. "I remember one day he came to Uganda and I accompanied him to a church in western Uganda. He was very passionate about his faith," Museveni says.
The Ugandan president says as Moi celebrates his 90th birthday, he should be remembered in his own right as a great leader: "There is no specific barometer to gauge who did better than the other but many African leaders have been unique in their own right and Moi was one of those unique leaders," he says.
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