Moi says he supported Saitoti’s presidential bid

By Moses Njagih

Former President Daniel Moi mourned the demise of Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and revealed he was supporting his presidential bid.

Moi on Wednesday said he has been laying the ground work strategy for the late Saitoti’s presidential bid in Rift Valley.

Moi, under who Saitoti served as vice president for 13 years said he was in constant talks with the deceased as he pursued his dreams of succeeding President Kibaki in the next elections.

The retired head of State said he has been particularly trying to boost Saitoti’s bid in the vote-rich Rift Valley region.

“I was trying to help him to fight for the Presidency, assisting him especially in the Rift Valley. We have been talking regularly (over Saitoti’s bid),” said Moi when he visited the deceased’s widow Ms Margaret Saitoti to console the family at their Lavington home.

Moi added: “Now that he has passed away, I pray that God will give Kenya a good leader who can help unite Kenyans”.

It was Moi who hand-picked Saitoti from the lecture rooms at the University of Nairobi and mentored his political life, nominating him to Parliament in 1983, effectively introducing the former minister in the world of politics that he dominated for 29 years.

Upon nominating him, Moi gave Saitoti the prestigious and high profile Finance Minister docket, before promoting him as his Vice President after the 1988 General Elections.

Saitoti served in this position (though it was interrupted after the 1997 elections when the former President failed to name his VP for 14 months before re-appointing him in 1999) until he politically fell out with his boss in the run up to the Moi succession when the retired President opted for Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta as his preferred successor.

Under Moi, Saitoti held key dockets of Finance and National Planning, doubling the VP duties, and he continued holding crucial portfolios of Education, Foreign Affairs and Internal Security, which he was serving before his death in a chopper crash last Sunday.

At Saitoti’s residence on Wednesday, Moi recalled the long friendship he had with Saitoti, revealing that he had known him even before he nominated him to Parliament.

“I have known him since the time he was a manager with Commercial Bank (Kenya) and even more when I appointed him to take some key appointments in the Government,” said Moi.

The former President, who severally referred to the deceased as George, said he had a harmonious working relationship with the deceased over the long period they worked together, describing him as a man who liked engaging in dialogue.

Among those who accompanied Moi to condole with the family was former minister Joseph Kamotho, another of a long-serving minister and Kanu official under Moi’s leadership, and who the former President said could collaborate his positions on the attributes of the deceased.

Moi said the death of Saitoti was blow to the country and his family, telling the widow and family members to trust in God’s guidance at this time of mourning.

“God will protect you, your family and all those who were close to him. We can only trust in Him,” said Moi.

Kamotho, a close ally of Saitoti under Moi’s regime, said the deceased was a great potential of the country’s

Also visiting the family yesterday was a group of Catholic Church bishops, led by Cardinal John Njue, who called on the Government to conduct thorough investigations into the chopper crash to ascertain the cause of the accident that also claimed Saitoti’s Assistant Orwa Ojodeh and four other people.

Njue said Kenyans would remain eager to know the cause of the accident and thus urged the Government to expedite the probe but be thorough in the work.

Njue was accompanied by his deputy at the Kenya Episcopal Conference (KEC) and Bishop of Kakamega Diocese Philip Sulumeti.

Also visiting the family to offer their condolences were former ministers Dr Chris Murungaru and G.G Kariuki and Joseph Munyao.