Nairobi Lawyer reveals why he fought for Kenyans to have Moi Day holiday

Portraits of former President Daniel arap Moi at the Kabarak University School of Music. The lawyer who won a court battle to return Moi Day says it was illegal to cancel it in the first place.[Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

The man who brought Moi Day back says he did it to correct a misinterpretation of the Constitution. Gragory Nyauchi filed a case in court in 2017 questioning the scrapping of Moi Day as a public holiday.

The University of Nairobi's School of Law graduate said he was motivated to go to court to make a point that all Kenyans are equal before the law.

“This was a case no other lawyer had done. So I invested my time to do some legal research and paid Sh10,000 as court filing fees. I wasn’t sure it could come to this,” said Nyauchi, who joined the bar in 2015. 

Nyauchi's argument was that former President Daniel Moi deserved to have a day named after him and declared a public holiday, just like Kenya's first President, Jomo Kenyatta.

He further argued that the 2010 Constitution provided that all laws existing before its promulgation would continue to be in force as long as they did not contradict the Constitution.

“One of these laws is the Public Holidays Act that Parliament amended during Moi’s time to give him his day. An Act that recognises Moi Day not as a national day but as a public holiday, an important distinction that means the Public Holidays Act does not, in fact, contravene the Constitution,” Nyauchi, 31, said.

Binds everyone

“One of the tenets of democracy is the rule of law. The law as a ruler binds everyone, even the Government. Breaking the law in order to tear down a monument of a ruler we do not think deserved it has the unintended effect of strengthening the monuments to lawlessness."

Nyauchi, who runs Nyauchi & Company Advocates in Nairobi with his father, Felix Nyauchi, argued that Parliament had the power and responsibility to amend the Public Holidays Act to rename or remove Moi Day.

“Our parliamentarians have had 11 months to consider whether or not to undertake this action and have not done so. This means either that they believe the day should be observed in its current form in honour of our second president or that they could not be bothered to do the work necessary to amend the Act.”

He said he wanted the day brought back for the sake of the country's workers.

“We live in a country where only a tiny minority are granted the 21 leave days that the Employment Act provides for. Most people get up and go to work every day except weekends. In a country with a negative attitude towards workers’ rights such as the one displayed by most of our employers, a public holiday is a necessity,” Nyauchi said.

Gragory Nyauchi

So when Justice George Odunga delivered his judgement on November 9, 2017, declaring October 10 a public holiday that should be observed as such, and Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i on Monday declared today a public holiday through a gazette notice, Nyauchi could only beam with pride.

“I am extremely happy. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Everyone is calling. I am going to have a party today,” he said.

The lawyer also advised Kenyans to use the day for rest.

Abstract example

“The removal of a public holiday is not just an abstract example of the need for rule of law, it is a felt and real deduction from the benefits available to employees. A public holiday is for almost all the only day that a family can gather and friends can see each other.”

Nyauchi, who attended Strathmore Primary and Strathmore High schools, also remembers meeting Moi during his school days.

“I was in Standard Seven and our class had a  trip to Mt Longonot. On the way, we met Moi's convoy. It stopped and he came out, spoke to us and gave our teacher some money to share with us. Each of us got Sh200. We were very happy."

Nyauchi, who was born and raised in Nairobi, thanked his father for guiding him while the case was in court.