38 Middle East & Africa The EconomistFebruary 8th 2020
2 to settle for Mr Tshisekedi, who came sec-
ond with just 20% of the vote, according to
impartial estimates. The real winner, with
60%, was a businessman called Martin
Fayulu, who had promised to hold Congo’s
corrupt leaders accountable. Mr Kabila also
rigged the parliamentary election, which
saw his party win 70% of the seats in the
national assembly. It controls the senate
and most ministries, too.
Messrs Kabila and Tshisekedi are now
locked in a murky power-sharing deal.
They bickered for months over who should
be in the cabinet. In January Mr Tshisekedi
threatened to dissolve the national assem-
bly, which was thwarting him. They have
also tussled over Gécamines, the state min-
ing company, which is being investigated
over a €200m line of credit it received from
an Israeli billionaire, Dan Gertler, who is
under American sanctions—and who is Mr
Kabila’s friend. Most of these disputes
seem to have been resolved to Mr Kabila’s
liking. “Everything that Tshisekedi does
first needs a green light from Kabila,” says a
political analyst in Kinshasa, the capital.
Mr Tshisekedi has been more active
abroad. In 2019 he wooed the imf and
World Bank and visited 20 countries. He
began 2020 with a whirlwind tour of Eu-
rope. Western countries have debated
whether to embrace him, given the way he
came to power. But Congo is a vast and stra-
tegically important country. Many have
followed the lead of America, which first
called the election “deeply flawed and trou-
bling”, then endorsed the result. In Novem-
ber the administration of Donald Trump
agreed to give Congo $600m in aid over
three years as part of what it calls a “privi-
leged partnership”. Mr Tshisekedi visited
Washington in April and spoke at the unin
New York in September.
Mr Trump has little interest in Africa.
His administration has threatened to cut
funds for the unpeacekeeping mission in
Congo. But his advisers also view the coun-
try as a battleground for influence. In 2018
John Bolton, then Mr Trump’s national se-
curity adviser, condemned the “predatory
practices” of China and Russia in the re-
gion. America seems willing to overlook
Congo’s democratic shortcomings so long
as Mr Tshisekedi stays close.
That is bad news for the people of Con-
go. Granted, in 2019 Mr Tshisekedi un-
muzzled the media, allowed peaceful prot-
ests and released some 700 political
prisoners. But as criticism of his presiden-
cy grows, he is looking less tolerant. A rally
to be led by Mr Fayulu was banned. Thou-
sands of people took to the streets of Kin-
shasa anyway on January 26th. Few believe
Mr Tshisekedi when he says that this year is
“the time to act”. “Tshisekedi is scared of
Kabila,” says Firmin Yangambi, a former
political prisoner. “A president who is
scared can’t do anything for his country.” 7D
aniel arap moiwas in many ways an
accidental president. Though he had
been number two to Jomo Kenyatta, inde-
pendent Kenya’s first leader, the Kikuyu
elite looked down on him. They saw the
former teacher from the Kalenjin group as
a modest man with much to be modest
about. But when Kenyatta’s death in 1978
led to a struggle for power among Kikuyu
bigwigs, the pragmatists settled on Mr Moi,
believing they could manipulate him from
behind the scenes.
For a while it worked. Charles Njonjo,
the powerful attorney-general, mentored
Mr Moi, teaching him how to be an English
gentleman. He took him to services at All
Saints’ Cathedral in Nairobi, the Kenyan
capital, and showed him how to pray like
an Anglican: kneel here during the Eucha-
ristic prayers, sing lustily from the hymnal.
Meanwhile, Mr Moi got better at courting
popular support, introducing a school milk
programme (for which he is still praised)
and releasing some political detainees.
But things changed in 1982, when Mr
Moi pushed through a revision to the con-
stitution that made Kenya a one-party
state. That, in part, led to a coup by air-force
personnel, which the president crushed.
He ordered the arrest of the entire air-force
staff, all 2,100 men. Some were never seen
again. His earlier modesty went, and so too
did Njonjo.Ruthlessness came easily to Mr Moi.
Opponents were locked up in underground
torture chambers. A popular foreign minis-
ter, Robert Ouko, was killed in one of Mr
Moi’s residences in 1990. His security
forces brutally put down a Somali insur-
gency in the north. Hundreds of men were
reportedly forced to lie on the ground at an
airstrip in the town of Wajir before being
shot in the back of the head.
To the public he presented a different
face. His slogan was “nyayo” (footsteps) be-
cause he promised to follow in the hal-
lowed footsteps of Kenyatta. In many ways
he did, most notably when it came to tribal-
ism—but instead of going to Kikuyus, the
plum posts and money went to Kalenjins.
(When the Kikuyus finally retook the presi-
dency in 2002, many vowed that they
would never give it back to the Kalenjins.)
While neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia
and Somalia fell into civil wars, Mr Moi pre-
sided over nearly a quarter-century of rela-
tive stability in Kenya. He never got bored
of pointing this out. “Are you tired of
peace?” he asked before stepping down. But
during his rule the economy often stagnat-
ed and corruption spread. Investigations
after he left office showed that as much as
$4bn may have gone to his family and al-
lies. Though not flashy, he acquired vast
amounts of farmland in the Rift Valley.
The West tolerated Mr Moi’s repression,
seeing him as a bulwark against commu-
nism in Africa. But when the cold war end-
ed, America and its allies pressed him to re-
store a multiparty system. He did, and won
two elections in 1992 and 1997 after the op-
position failed to unite behind a single
candidate. A good thing too, said some
Western diplomats, who thought that no
one else could hold Kenya’s more than 40
tribes together. “Après Moi, le déluge” was a
popular joke.
Many were surprised when Mr Moi
stood down in 2002, as required by the con-
stitution. On his way out, though, he tried
to select a pliant successor. His choice,
Uhuru Kenyatta (Jomo’s son), was trounced
in that year’s election and his party, which
had ruled since independence in 1963, col-
lapsed. His car was pelted with mud after
he formally handed power to his vice-pres-
ident-turned-opponent, Mwai Kibaki, who
won the election.
Mr Moi’s legacy is still contested in Ken-
ya. Moi day, a national holiday he created
for himself, was scrapped in 2010—then re-
instated by the high court in 2017. Recently
Mr Moi asked for the day to be rebranded as
“Huduma day”, a day of service. In many
ways the Moi era continues. Corruption
and ethnic favouritism still poison Kenyan
politics. Most of today’s top politicians
served under him (including Mr Kenyatta,
who became president in 2013). That is one
reason why, despite his atrocities, there
has been no shortage of eulogies. 7NAIROBI
The legacy of Daniel arap Moi, who
died on February 4th, haunts KenyaKenyaAprès Moi
The gentleman despot