The NEWSTAMU crew comes to you once again to present you with the reason as to why eleventh February has been gazetted as a national holiday. Here are the details:
Reason why 11th February has been termed as a holiday:
The big reason behind this holiday is to give super honour to our late president Moi as so that the Kenyans can manage to have time to attend the burial of the Kenya’s great late president, and mourn his departure in style.
- The late president Moi managed to be in power for 24 years.
- He had the first identification card number 000001.
- He helped in the fighting for the country’s independence without quiting.
- He is said to be a dictator though he led the country through the hardest times hence managing to grow the Kenya’s economy.
- The late president encouraged harambee.
Facts you didn’t know:
The late President Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi owned the I D number 0000001
Former President Mwai Kibaki had 0000002
And Charles Njonjo had 00000003
The government has already announced that the former President, who ruled for 24 years, will be accorded a state funeral. The military has already taken over the burial preparations, including preparing the body at Lee Funeral home.
It has also emerged that the family had declined requests to bury Moi at the Parliament Square, where Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was buried. Kenyatta died in office in August 1978. He was the first Kenyan to be accorded a State funeral. Moi will be the fifth Kenyan after former Vice President Michael Kijana Wamalwa, Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Mathai and former First lady Lucy Kibaki.
In 2004, during the burial of Moi’s wife Lena Moi at Kabarak in Nakuru County, Mzee said that he would like to be buried beside her when he finally rested. The family was delighted with the government’s decision to respect this decision.
In September last year, the family of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe disagreed with the government’s move to bury the former guerilla soldier at the national monument. The family wanted him buried at his rural home. It took more than two weeks to settle the wrangles.
Perhaps this is what informed the government’s decision to respect Moi’s wishes.
