(NEWS ANALYSIS) NAIROBI —Kenyans are divided on the media freedoms and human rights legacy of their former president Daniel arap Moi, the evangelist who sold a cow to buy his first Bible, only to later to plunge into politics. Moi died Feb. 4 and was publicly mourned in a widely broadcast funeral on Feb. 11.

Reading the local newspapers, two different Mois are being described by those who loved the former president for the huge strides he made in providing access to education to the most needy parts of the country and being a strong defender of what he called the “African man” — and the journalists and human rights crusaders who tasted the wrath of his ever excited security agents and believe that Moi should not be celebrated.

Moi was a study in contrasts. His parents died when he was just four years old. His elder brother became his guardian. When missionaries appeared in his native Rift Valey Province, Moi’s career as a herdsman came to a screeching halt and his elder brother shooed him away to a school run by the Africa Inland Mission in 1934.

While at primary school, Moi came into contact with the gospel and demanded that he be baptized. Although training as a teacher, Moi stood out more because of his love for evangelizing his community and the neighboring tribes.

An Australian missionary, Erik Barnett played a key role in Moi’s early spiritual life. His teaching and evangelism career would take a back seat after he plunged into politics, patiently bidding his time in parliament, later as an opposition leader and vice president, and finally succeeding the founding father Jomo Kenyatta in 1978.

It is the next 24 years when he ruled that has mesmerized Kenyans. He managed to manage some diplomatic feats which put him on the world stage. For example, during President Bill Clinton’s presidency, the U.S. tried solving the political mess in the central African state of Burundi.

Clinton flew to Arusha in Tanzania and had the belligerent Burundian leaders assemble at a conference table. No deal was signed. About a week later Moi invited the same team to Nairobi where a deal was signed, a major diplomatic achievement.

Even as he earned mileage in the international arena, at home he was an iron fisted leader who could not tolerate dissent. Opponents were arrested and charged on trumped up charges. Some were killed while the lucky ones went into exile, mostly in U.S. and Nordic countries.

The most high profile was the death of Moi’s foreign affairs minister Dr. Robert Ouko, who went missing in February of 1990 immediately after returning from the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast. His badly burnt and injured body was later found some few miles from his home in western Kenya. Many blamed Moi for the death.

Moi’s rule ended in 2002 because a new constitution barred him for running for a third term and his hand-picked successor Uhuru Kenyatta, son to founding president Jomo Kenyatta, lost to the opposition chief Mwai Kibaki.

When Kibaki too retired in 2012, Uhuru Kenyatta succeeded him.

When Uhuru announced Moi’s death, Kenyans began dissecting his rule. Uhuru was all flourish praising the man who introduced him into high stake politics. 

“The democratic narrative of our long march to nationhood must be told and retold for generations to come,” Uhuru said. “For today we stand tall on the strong shoulders of our forefathers.”

“Mzee Moi’s place amongst those who dreamt of the modern Kenya is unshakable. And even as we celebrate his life, we must continue to tell the story. Today I choose not to mourn the passing of an icon but rather to celebrate a statesman and a giant of history,” Uhuru said.

The man who battled with Moi for many years as his political opposition, Raila Odinga, said he had forgiven Moi and mourned him as a great leader. Moi battled Odinga in scuffles that sometimes sent him into detention without trial.

"He was human ... Moi made some mistakes. I, for example, was one of the victims. But he was also forgiving, like I am forgiving," said Raila, a losing presidential candidate in 2007, 2012 and 2017.

But political analyst Onyango Obiero had no kind words for Moi. 

“Diplomacy and political correctness have their place in politics but we must never cover up Moi's legacy of naked brutality if we seek to take Kenya forward,” he wrote on Facebook.

Among the Luos, one of Kenya’s ethnic groups, funeral ceremonies for people who committed serious crimes like murder and theft are kept as brief as possible, because funerals celebrate a person’s good deeds.

“Moi is an evil person who killed many, some of them in the most brutal manner imaginable. It is therefore important that Raila Odinga does not make any grand visit to Moi's dead body wearing his traditional colourful Luo regalia. His visit should be as brief as possible and without any pomp whatsoever,” Obiero said.

Veteran journalist Mugo Theuri who was once a political prisoner because of his writing also did not see anything worth celebrating in Moi’s death.

“What are people going to pray for? For God to forgive the dictator? To be forgiven for sustaining a tyranny for 24 years? To be protected in future against such brutality? To be given a chance to elect another dictator? To thank the dead dictator for dripping the country with the blood and tears of their friends and relatives? Kenyans are a mysterious race,” he said.

Tom Osanjo is a Nairobi-based correspondent for Religion Unplugged. He is a former parliamentary reporter and has covered sports, politics and more at Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper.