Moi was a master tactician: shrewd, manipulative and always one step ahead of his opponents.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga attested to this when he described him as a Giraffe referring to his “far sightedness” while others called him professor of politics.

From a humble beginning he rose to become one of Africa’s big men.

When he took over from mzee Jomo Kenyatta many saw him as amanable and just a passing cloud little did they know it was just a matter of time before he threw away his gentility mask.

During his reign he took a firm grip on government institutions, the security services were known to be proactive detecting threats before they happened ,to the Judiciary he was the law .

So long as you were in his good books and ready to sing sycophancy the state coffers were free for you to loot and he literally took the saying charity begins at home and developed most parts of Rift valley with infrastructure.

His charming diplomatic skills were so luring that even the rebellious Raila could not resist to form a merger with him and the likes of Shikuku could not resist to follow the aroma of boiling chicken to statehouse.

Infact during his days the opposition was only opposition during the day at night most of them were KANU, dining at State house and asking for hand-outs

And these diplomatic skills went beyond the borders of Kenya where he managed to bring peace in the horn of Africa.

Although he led us down an economic pit i also give him credit for a peaceful transition, something that most African leaders are still grappling with.

And as he continues looking towards the sunset i also keep on looking back at the days when we felt the government was fully incharge, we would literally feel his presence as kids whenever he visited Kisumu.

Article contributed by Odhiambo Levin Opiyo, a journalist based in London