Moi was not ready to handover power to Kibaki

All eyes were on the campaigning intrigues when, just a week before the 2002 General Election, the military staged a brief but crucially important ceremony in Nairobi.

It was Saturday, December 21, 2002. The place was Langata Barracks at a time of great tension, anxiety and uncertainty all rolled into an irrepressible nerve-racking bundle of national emotions.

The mood at the barracks was sombre and solemn. There were two reasons for this. One, the feeling that this was the last time that President Moi would officiate at a military function as Commander-in-Chief of Kenya’s Armed Forces, and second, and perhaps more important, the unstated reasons why the ceremony had been brought forward by two weeks.

These were no ordinary times. Unknown to the public, former President Moi’s closest allies – that coterie of power brokers with unlimited access to State House and State resources – had desperately tried to schedule the military farewell to the Commander-in-Chief on January 4, 2004.

But the military top brass, led by the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), General Joseph Raymond Kibwana, “strongly advised” against a post-election date. The soft-spoken and ever diplomatic General Kibwana had received critical support on this issue from a most unexpected quarter: Gen Lazarus Sumbeiywo, then serving as the Army Commander as well as the well-connected and seasoned insider of the ruling elite around President Moi.

Having prevailed, the general then brought forward President Moi’s farewell – an unprecedented ceremony in Kenya’s history replete with symbolism.

Just why did it matter one bit whether the farewell came before or after the 2002 General Election? Quite a lot was riding on this innocuous-looking issue and the military was determined to play its rightful role in the delicate days leading to the transition.

Much of the credit, but by no means all, is directed at Gen Kibwana who became the country’s sixth CGS in November 2000 and whose tour of duty is nearing its end. He is set to retire at the beginning of November.

Fresh details about those perilous moments in Kenya’s political history are illuminating the critical role which Kenya’s Armed Forces in general – Gen Kibwana and the Army Commander Lt General Sumbeiywo in particular – played to ensure that the transition run smoothly whether Kanu won or lost the election.

Senior figures in the Armed Forces familiar with the frenetic planning and strategising in the last few weeks of the Moi presidency give a clear picture of a military and its leadership that had come of age, politically speaking.

In meetings, held variously at Harambee House and State House, key members of the Moi Government who included the then Head of Public Service, Dr Sally Kosgei, the then Comptroller of State House, Mr John Lokorio, Attorney-General Mr Amos Wako and Mr Zakayo Cheruiyot, then occupying the powerful position of Permanent Secretary in charge of Internal Security, Gen Kibwana and other military top brass weighed the pros and cons of a post or pre-elections Armed Forces farewell party.

Dr Kosgei, Mr Cheruiyot and Mr Lokorio are said to have argued strongly for a post-election farewell party for the Commander-in-Chief. But Mr Wako, Gen Kibwana and Gen Sumbeiywo were of a different view. They felt that the farewell party should take place the week before the general election in order to assure Kenyans and the world that indeed a transition was going to take place”.

What was not stated openly though in such high-level meetings and those of the National Security Committee was the underlying fear that a smooth transition could be sabotaged if Kanu’s Uhuru Kenyatta lost the presidential race.

Military sources at the Department of Defence narrated how the red collars, as the generals are known, agonised about how to manage the transition without leaving anything to chance while at the same ensuring due honour and respect to their Commander-in-Chief.

It was not lost on the military top brass that President Moi had stated categorically that defeat did not feature in his political vocabulary.

These words were open to various interpretations. There were those who dismissed President Moi’s words as mere political bravado aimed at cowering the enemy. But there were those who read a much more ominous message and a veiled threat – that should his preferred successor, Mr Kenyatta, lose the presidential race, then outgoing President Moi would not feel obliged to hand over power to the winner.

And this was one political prospect that really worried Gen Kibwana and his top brass. It was also one prospect that they were resolutely determined to prevent from ever happening, military insiders said last week.

At Ulinzi House, the top brass were particularly keen to send the right kind of political message. A message described by one Lieutenant General (who spoke on condition of anonymity) as an unequivocal signal from us to the country saying that we support institutions (as opposed to individuals).

Besides sending the “unequivocal signal” to the country, the Armed Forces, according to the Lt-General, also wanted to leave no doubt in the minds of Kanu politicians in general and the outgoing Commander in Chief in particular that we were for change no matter who won the election”.

As such, the farewell party for the Commander-in-Chief became the perfect avenue to wage what could be loosely described as a psychological campaign.

By having the farewell party take place ahead of the General Election, the military was subtly telling President Moi – and those around him who may have felt inclined to want to convince him not to hand over power in case Kanu lost – that they could count the Armed Forces out of such an arrangement.

Thus, though rather hurried because of the controversy over the date, the farewell party that the Armed Forces gave President Moi was an elaborate, ornate and befitting send off for a C-in-C.

After being feted with a guard of honour, a military brass band, food and drinks, the C-in-C was presented with symbolic instruments of military power as a sign that his era as C-in-C had come to an end.

The Chief of General Staff gave President Moi the Commander in Chief’s red military tunic mounted on a bust. Also mounted in the life-size glass-walled showcase were medals for the rank of field marshal, a general’s silver-sheathed sword, a general’s cap and shoes.

He was presented with life-size statues of an infantry soldier, an airman and a naval officer, representing the three arms of the Armed Forces that he had commanded as C-in-C for a good 24 years. There were also other presents, including a tractor donated by the Army.

By and large, the symbolism of the day was clear. A new aide-de-camp, Lt-Colonel Kipng’etich, for President Moi was formally introduced on this day at Langata Barracks with the implicit instructions that he would be on stand-by to take his place behind President Moi the moment he became the former Commander in Chief. The ADC, who faithfully stood behind President Moi in his last years as head of state was to shift base and stand behind the new president the moment the incoming president was sworn in and handed the symbolic instrument of military power – the general’s sword.

It was a poignant moment for President Moi too. The solemn nature of the function, the finality of the presentations and the sombre atmosphere were enough to make even the most hardened military officer choke with emotion.

A colonel who attended the farewell party recalls: I have never seen the President so emotionally touched like he was when Gen Kibwana presented him with the send-off gifts. He (President Moi) would have shed tears were it not for his rather stoic demeanour.

Despite the exterior show that all was well for Kanu, underneath simmered the feeling that things may not be so cosy.

Even at Langata Barracks, those who could were cutting their losses and moving on. One such person was the Attorney-General. As the guests of the outgoing Commander-in-Chief were enjoying the VIP luncheon hosted by the CGS, Mr Wako engaged his professional colleague, the then Chief Justice Mr Bernard Chunga, in a rather interesting and telling conversation.

Almost predictably, the conversation between the two learned friends moved in the direction of succession politics, handing over power and the expected swearing-in of a new administration.

As the custodians of law and order we must serve the government of the day and not an individual– Mr Wako said rather unexpectedly.

Some of those around the table exchanged glances perhaps wondering why the AG was moving so fast. But to others, the AG’s words presented a rather comforting knowledge that at least here was a public servant holding a critical position who was willing to follow not just the letter but also the spirit of the law regarding the handover of power and political transition.

After the farewell, a forlorn-looking President Moi was driven back to the State House, Nairobi, where he held court with close advisers.

The military top brass, led by Gen Kibwana headed back to Defence headquarters to review events of the day.

They were happy that everything had gone on well and confident that the message that the Armed Forces would play a non-partisan role in the transition had been communicated with minimal static.

And thus when the following Saturday, December 28, 2002 Kanu suffered its first election defeat since Independence, none of Moi’s men could rationally expect the Armed Forces to back Kanu in any political shenanigans that the defeated political party may have sought to entertain.

Even as the movers and shakers in the Moi regime gathered at State House on Sunday morning, December 29 – in the gloomy atmosphere of an increasingly clear and imminent election defeat – with some trying to convince Moi not to hand over power, for the outgoing president everything was crystal clear; he had bid farewell to the military the previous week and therefore psychologically he was already an outgoing Commander-in-Chief even before the new president had taken office.

When someone suggested to President Moi that Kanu should get a lawyer to rush a court injunction to prevent Narc’s Mwai Kibaki from being sworn in as president, ostensibly on account of serious irregularities in the elections, Moi simply shrugged off the idea. Instead, he telephoned Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and told him to prepare his concession speech so as to set the stage for Mr Kibaki’s swearing-in, which Narc had by then set for the following day.

In the excitement and confusion of elections coupled with the fact that this was the first time in the country’s history that power was being handed over from one living president to another, many critical things were overlooked leading to a mad rush on the eve of D-Day.

The responsibility of ensuring that the swearing-in ceremony went on in accordance with tradition and with military precision was left to Gen Kibwana and his commanders.

But neither their military training nor the generals’ combined 100 years-plus of practical experience in military affairs, ceremonies and traditions had prepared them well enough for a real-life hand-over of power.

What symbolic instruments of power were to be handed over by President Moi to the incoming president? This was a question that greatly perturbed Gen Kibwana and his team at DoD.

Someone had even jokingly suggested that President Moi should hand over his rungu (baton) as a symbol of passing on power to the new president!

Such a handover could perhaps have worked if President Moi’s party had won the elections and the outgoing president was handing over to Mr Kenyatta.

But with the presidential race having been won by the enemy, had they attempted handing over the Nyayo rungu, chances are that Mr Kibaki would have declined it, leading to a most embarrassing moment on live television.

When Daniel arap Moi took over from Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, there had been nothing to symbolically hand over since the then incumbent had died in office and Mr Moi, as the vice-president at that particular moment, simply stepped up to assume the presidency.

The only handing over prior to this was from the colonial governor to Mzee Jomo Kenyatta who started off as prime minister before the constitutional amendment that elevated him to President and at the same replaced the Queen of England as the Head of State in Kenya.

But the colonial governor-Kenyatta hand over was so long ago and so different that few of those planning the Moi-Kibaki hand over found anything substantially useful to learn from it.

Ultimately, it was decided that the instrument to be used in the symbolic hand over of power from outgoing President Moi to incoming President Mwai Kibaki would be a general’s sword.

The military commissioned one to be prepared and delivered within the shortest time possible. This was done. But alas, even with the sword was prepared and delivered ready for the handing over ceremony, another critical requirement had slipped the attention of the military planners – the Presidential Standard. The Presidential Standard comprises a full-size flag and a matching presidential car-mounted flag. The full-size flag is hoisted wherever the President is and never flies at half-mast. If the President is in State House, the Presidential Standard is hoisted, when he leaves, it is lowered and hoisted wherever he has gone, may it be a hotel or a school.

This was 48 hours before the swearing in ceremony when everyone at DoD involved in the preparations for the ceremony was in panic mode. After discussions at DoD, it was decided that since it was clear who the winner of the presidential race might be, a Presidential Standard be designed with neutral colours – mainly white – but bearing the traditional devices of power and authority that were in President Moi’s Presidential Standard.

A private designer was given the job of coming up with a Presidential Standard that would be used either by Mr Mwai Kibaki or Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, the two front-runners in the presidential election.

Working under extreme pressure, the designer came up with a Presidential Standard that was white and bore some of the devices on the national flag such as the shield (signifying defence and security) and the crossed spears (signifying defence, security or attack). The cockerel that had been on Moi’s Presidential Standard was eliminated from the new one in anticipation that Kanu may not win the elections.

When Mr Moi took over from Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the only significant thing he changed on the Presidential Standard he had inherited from the late President Kenyatta was the colour. Instead of President Kenyatta’s preferred royal blue background, President Moi had chosen a green background.

Indeed, green was the colour in which President Moi signed most official documents throughout his presidency.

The Presidential Standard was delivered to the military top brass at 3.30am on the morning of the presidential swearing-in day, Monday December 30, 2002. With the Presidential Standard safely in their hands, the military committee in charge of the swearing-in ceremony could breathe a sigh of relief in the knowledge that there would be a new Presidential Standard to be hoisted at the critical moment when the one of President Moi was lowered. But there was still the question of the miniature Presidential Standard mounted on the presidential limousine, which had not been delivered until the following day at 9am.

It may look like a simple matter of one flag going down and another coming up, but make no mistake; precision timing is critical at such moments to ensure that there is absolutely no vacuum in the sense of one Presidential Standard being lowered and the one of the incoming president not being fully hoisted.

Once the hustle and bustle of the swearing-in was over and everyone was finally settled, President Kibaki and his team now had time to take a closer look at the Presidential Standard and decide whether or not it was representative of what he thought his presidency was or would be all about.

Apparently, two people in President Kibaki’s A-Team; Mr Matere Keriri, then Comptroller of State House and Mr Esau Kioni, then presidential security advisor based at the State House, were not happy with the new Presidential Standard.

And three weeks after the swearing-in ceremony, the designer of the Presidential Standard was summoned to State House for a meeting with Mr Keriri and Mr Kioni. After discussions, a new design was agreed.

The Standard would be on a white background (signifying renewal, stability and peace), a shield surrounded by a greenish sheaf of olive branch (signifying defence and peace) and two crossed golden spears – the golden colour signifies prosperity while the spears denote either defence or attack. The coat of arms that had been part of Mzee Kenyatta’s and President Moi’s Presidential Standard did not make it into the new administration’s Presidential Standard.

After the last minute crisis of the final days of Mr Moi’s presidency, the military top brass are now working on a permanent Presidential Standard designed to denote continuity of office.

Looking back on that critical period, there is no doubt that Gen Kibwana and the men and women he commands were true to their military calling.