Throughout his 24 year rule as the president of Kenya, the late Daniel Moi was known for walking around with his famous rungu. He would not attend any function without it and his subordinates would be in trouble if something happened to it. What made that rungu so special?
Moi’s rungu was similar to that of Jomo Kenyatta’s fly whisk. The first president of Kenya made sure he had it on one of his hands when making a public appearance. The same was true for the infamous rungu, a wooden baton.
Some analysts believed that the baton was a symbol of power and authority, a symbolism borrowed from the Kalenjin community. No matter what people thought of it, the rungu was certainly important to Daniel Moi.
Moi’s Press Secretary, Lee Njiru, has once narrated of one day in 1981 when his beloved rungu fell and broke in two pieces. Speaking to Citizen TV’s Journalist Jeff Koinange in his show JKL, the rungu broke into town as the former president was walking down the stairs at the residence of the Los Angeles Mayor of the time, Tom Bradley.
Njiru recalled how bad the situation was as he was meant to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Melbourne, Australia. There was n way he would make an appearance in public without his trusted rungu.
One of Moi’s aides, Peter Rotich, was immediately ordered to collect a new baton from Nairobi and fly it to Sydney, Australia. Rotich had to make it to Australia before Moi and his entourage did. Fortunately, he did make it on time and the former president continued waving his trademark symbol of unity to the public.