Moi brings streets to standstill even in death

“Elaborate” and “historic” are some of the words that could be used to describe yesterday’s memorial service in honour of former president Daniel arap Moi at the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi.

Moi, who brought streets and whole villages and cities to a standstill each time he passed by, did it once again in his death.

For one grand final time, the body of the former Kenyan leader underwent a historic circuitous journey through Nairobi, the capital, from where he ruled over Kenya for 12 years as a vice president and 24 years as president.

The journey, deeply poetic in a sense, retraced Moi’s storied political life, first from the Lee Funeral Home, where his body had been preserved since his death last week Tuesday at the Nairobi Hospital, to State House, where he reigned from for nearly two and a half decades, and finally to the Nyayo National Stadium, one of his most endearing legacies.

The route to the stadium was highly guarded, doted on both sides by dozens of unarmed police officers, mostly sergeants and constables in their ceremonial dark outfits and white gloves, as other officers in regular uniform maintained security and controlled traffic along the highway.

By the time daylight had wiped the night away, Kenyans, by the hundreds, had begun trooping to the Nyayo National Stadium in swarms. Some, who had arrived from faraway counties, had their buses parked along Mombasa Road due to security restrictions, and trekked the remaining distance to the stadium. 

Open trucks with heavily armed police and other security officers vigilantly patrolled the city, as dozens of media photographers stationed themselves along the designated path to capture history unfold.

The speeches from the speakers elicited exciting responses from the crowds, from claps of support and agreement to loud, spirited laughs let out whenever a speaker made a humorous comment.

As the ceremony drew to a close, the crowds trooped back to their homes, conversing on the beauty of the ceremony and the lasting legacy of the man, Moi.