Just days after meeting former President Daniel Moi at Kabarak, Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i excited Kenyans by officially gazetting Moi Day as a public holiday.
At Kabarak, the two were pictured exchanging warmly as other state officers looked on with excitement all over their faces.
Through a special Gazette notice, Matiang’i classified Moi Day as public holiday but did not hint how it will be celebrated.
“It’s important to not that on 10th every year we shall celebrate Moi Day. Due to preparations for Mashujaa Day, we will not however issue statement how it will be celebrated.”
18 years ago, President Moi declared October 10 to be marked as a state occasion to mark his 10 years in Power which was first marked in 1989 as a state occasion.
With only two years before he could retire, President Moi declared it a day of private dedication to the less fortunate.
The Day was struck out of the public holidays list in 2010 following the promulgation of the new 2010 Constitution.
An aggrieved Kenyan, Lawyer Gregory Nyauchi, moved to court to challenge the decision to stop observing Moi Day as a public holiday.
High Court judge justice George Odunga in his ruling on November 8, 2017 said the scrapping of Moi Day is an illegality and was in contravention of the law.
“I hereby grant a declaration that the omission to have the 10th day of October observed as a public holiday is an illegality and in contravention of Section 2(1) as read with part 1 of the schedule to the Public Holidays Act,” stated Odunga in part of his ruling.
The judge, nonetheless, gave an outline on how Moi Day can be formally scrapped.