Moi and Kibaki: contrasts in State security

By Standard On Sunday Team

KENYA: As the country goes through trying moments where insecurity is becoming almost the norm and reactions by political leadership lethargic at their best, there is one inescapable observation: the stark difference between former President Moi’s reaction to security threat issues and that of his successor, President Kibaki.

Political and security experts say that President Kibaki’s approach to security matters, just like almost everything else, is often a wait-and-see-routine.

Hardly anything gets President Kibaki ruffled. He appears to be a firm believer in the fatalism philosophy of “what will be will be”.

Based on this philosophy, political analysts say, Kibaki may see little reason to intervene in matters he believes will solve themselves in the fullness of time.

“Kibaki has always had a calm and collected approach to issues. He does not allow emotion to influence his decisions nor does he rush on anything,” says a former minister who worked closely with Kibaki during his first term in office.

On his part, former President Moi seems to have believed firmly in the philosophy of determinism where your actions, not fate, determines what will happen next.

It was perhaps for this reason that Moi was completely obsessed with matters of State Security and invested much time, copious amounts of money, and immense personal attention to anything that appeared remotely likely to threaten national security.

Demand information

Moi regarded anything that posed significant threats to national security to being a personal affront and had to be dealt with and vanquished.

Sources in National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) who worked closely with the Moi Government say that the former President was consumer of copious amounts of Intelligence briefs. “The man was insatiable when it came to Intelligence briefing. He would want to know all possible angles and demand more information if you went to him with a half-baked Intel Brief,” a retired Intelligence officer who served during the Moi days told the The Standard On Sunday in an interview.

Moi’s appetite for Intelligence may also explain why Permanent Secretaries who served in the Provincial Administration and Internal Security docket (which politically oversees Intelligence activities) tended to have inordinate power and influence sometimes even more than the Head of Public Service.

All the holders of the post of Permanent Secretary for Internal Security in Moi’s era such as the late Hezekiah Oyugi, Wilfred Kimalat and Zakayo Cheruiyot almost invariably left a mark — for good or bad — in the national psyche.

All President Kibaki’s Men

Compare and contract this with holders of the same position in the ten years or so Kibaki has been at the helm. Few, if any, of them have managed to establish an image of power and influence nor do they make Kenyans confident about national security.

Kibaki has had as PS Internal Security such personalities Cyrus Gituai, (a colourless former DC), Dave Mwangi (best remembered for other controversial matters other than national security), Francis Kimemia (who doesn’t seem to have left much of mark either) and the current holder of the post, Mutea Iringo (who appears overwhelmed by the responsibility).

Whereas Moi kept close tabs with the Provincial Administration — especially Provincial Commissioners and District Commissioners — often demanding and getting constant briefs on security (and political) matters in their respective regions, as far as we could establish not a single PC and much less DC, has ever received a call from President Kibaki demanding to know why there is a security or political crisis in their area of administration.

Contrast this with Moi’s early morning routine as re-told by a retired PC who served the Moi Government.

“We (PCs) used to dread the early morning call from Mzee (Moi) because he would ask us very tough and probing questions on security and political matters and we all had to be very prepared otherwise you could easily be sent packing,” says the retired PC.

Moi’s demands to the Intelligence Community were equally demanding. A retired Intelligence officer says that usually President Moi would get the official Intelligence Brief from the head of NSIS, Brig Wilson Boinnet and then go-behind Boinet’s back and demand more Intel from senior Intelligence officers working under the Intelligence Chief.

By cultivating and maintaining multiple sources of Intelligence, Moi ensured that at all times he had more Intelligence and information on critical issues than those who came to brief him. Given the two Presidents’ — Moi and Kibaki — different approach and demands on national security matters, it is not surprising then that the current Director General of NSIS, Michael Gichangi obviously finds himself much less tasked than his predecessors in what was viewed as the hot seat during the Moi era.

Sources familiar with the workings around Kibaki Presidency say that the president often tends to delegate much more than he should and does not like to be bogged down by what he terms “unnecessary” details whether this is from the Intelligence Community, Provincial Administration or key political players.

It is possibly this hands-off approach leading to a palpable information gap that has exacerbated levels of insecurity in the country.