New details have emerged of how former President Mwai Kibaki's team plotted to denigrate his predecessor President Daniel Moi during his 2002 swearing-in.
In a recent interview with the Sunday Nation, Mzee Moi’s long-serving press secretary Lee Njiru revealed that Kibaki's transition team had an ill motive to prevent President Moi from attending the swearing-in ceremony.
“There was a conspiracy to create a false impression that Mzee Moi had refused to vacate office,” he was quoted by the newspaper.
Njiru opined that a section of the then opposition leaders - some of whom are currently in government wanted to take advantage of president's absence to storm State House and evict President Moi.
[caption caption="2002 swearing ceremony"][/caption]
“They meant to humiliate Mzee and then proclaim the incident as a heroic act of a popular uprising,” he conveyed.
Njiru (77), who marks 40 years of service to the former head of State this year disclosed that Moi had information of the leaders' plot to which he decided to head over to Uhuru Park to hand over power to Kibaki.
“He told us that whether they (Kibaki’s team) was ready or not, protocol or no protocol, he had to attend the ceremony to save the country from bloodshed,” he recalled.
Upon his arrival at Uhuru park, the pro-Narc crowds were less than welcoming to the Head of State.
Unrelenting, Mr Moi's motorcade snaked through the crowds who were chanting humiliating slogans like: “Yote yawezekana bila Moi (all is possible without Moi)."
He was pelted with clods of muds as made his made to the dias to meet Kibaki.
However, Joseph Munyao who was Minister during Kibaki's era had a different account of how the day's events turned out attributing the disorganization on that to lack of coordination by the Kibaki and Moi teams.
[caption caption="Mze Moi handing over power to Kibaki"][/caption]
He refuted the claims adding that the handing over ceremony was conducted on a short notice.
“We were going to swear Mr Kibaki in no matter what. But it is not true that we had no arrangements for Moi’s appearance at Uhuru Park on that day,” he stated.