Former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, who led the country for 24 years with iron hands, died between 1978 and 2002, on Tuesday morning at the age of 95, as announced by current President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Arab Moi family.
"I profoundly announce the death of a senior African statesman, Daniel Torwitich Arab Moi, the second president of Kenya," Kenyatta said in a written presidential announcement.
Daniel Arap Moi was a teacher and took over the presidency from Father Independence Jomo Kenyatta upon his death in 1978.
Kenyatta said that Moi "was one of the leaders of the struggle for Kenya's independence and one of the strongest defenders of African unity", explaining that "as this makes the legacy of the late Moi undoubtedly the man of the greatest African leaders."
The Kenyan President has ordered a "national mourning" in the country until Moi's funeral at a state funeral, which will be scheduled at a later time. Until then flags will be flown at all public buildings out of respect for his memory.
He explained that the former president died in the early hours of the morning of the fourth of February 2020 in Nairobi Hospital in the presence of his family.