Daniel arap Moi

Daniel Toroitich arap Moi (born September 2, 1924) was the President of Kenya from 1978 until 2002. Daniel arap Moi is popularly known to Kenyans as 'Nyayo', a Swahili word for 'footsteps'. He claimed to be following the footsteps of the first Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta. Moi was born in Kurieng'wo village, Sacho division, Baringo District, Rift Valley Province, and was raised by his mother Kimoi Chebii following the early death of his father. After completing his secondary education, he attended Tambach Teachers Training College in the Keiyo District. He worked as a teacher from 1946 until 1955. In 1955 Moi entered politics when he was elected Member of the Legislative Council for Rift Valley. In 1960 he founded the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) with Ronald Ngala to challenge the Kenya African National Union (KANU) led by Jomo Kenyatta. KADU pressed for a federal constitution, while KANU was in favour of centralism. The advantage lay with the numerically stronger KANU, and the British government was finally forced to remove all provisions of a federal nature from the constitution.