Nyeri Deputy Governor Caroline Karugu yesterday recalled childhood memories when she had a rare encounter with former President Daniel Moi.<\/p>\n
The former Head of State died yesterday at the Nairobi Hospital aged 95.Dr Karugu, who has photographs of the encounter, said she whispered \u201csomething special\u201d in his ear during the meeting.Karugu said she asked the President to order removal of Kiswahili from the syllabus.She was just seven in 1986 and the President was presiding over a passing out parade for police recruits at the Police Training College in Kiganjo, Nyeri.<\/p>\n
Karugu was chosen to welcome the President and present him with a bouquet of flowers.\u201cThat was the first time I met him and I really liked him. We had a lovely chat that I remember to date,\u201d said Karugu.<\/p>\n
His love for children saw Moi identify uniqueness in Karugu\u2019s character and during the event, he asked her what she would wish him do for her. Despite the tender age and naivety, Karugu knew what she wanted her then new friend do for her.\u201cI asked him to do whatever he could to have Kiswahili taken off the syllabus.<\/p>\n
I really hated Swahili. My parents said I should have asked for other things but Kiswahili was what bothered me at that time because I performed poorly badly in it,” she said.Her reasoning was that she wrote exams in either English or Kikuyu; she couldn\u2019t understand why she needed to learn a subject that didn\u2019t feature anywhere else apart from exams.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just an attitude I had… He actually made me love Kiswahili later as he kept telling me to love the subject because it was our national language,\u201d she said.State House callsShe would later get calls from State House whenever Moi was visiting Central region and Nyeri in particular.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time he came, he would ask me to meet him and always asked for my termly school examination report cards,\u201d she recalled.Although her request was not granted, Karugu feels that after sharing it with the then President, her heart was at peace.Karugu recalled how Moi encouraged her to change her attitude towards Kiswahili as the language would be useful to engage citizens if she became a leader.<\/p>\n
During his reign, the former President invited children picked from all the provinces to State House and Karugu never missed that chance.\u00a0Like a father\u201cIt was more of a father-daughter relationship: we would play, dance, cut cake and just hang out with him at State House,\u201d she said.She added: \u201cI mourn the death of Baba Moi. It is an extremely sad day because even if he has been ailing, you can never be prepared for such a loss,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said Moi\u2019s passion to see more schools built and promote education motivated her to pursue education to post-graduate level, earning her a doctorate degree.\u00a0\u201cHe taught us to go for the best in terms of education and not stop at anything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said the friendship continued between her and Moi\u2019s family and she enjoyed their support when she got into politics.\u00a0Karugu said Baringo Senator Gedion Moi took over his father\u2019s \u201crole\u201d in her life, encouraging her to go for what she believed in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nyeri Deputy Governor Caroline Karugu yesterday recalled childhood memories when she had a rare encounter with former President Daniel Moi. The former Head of State died yesterday at the Nairobi Hospital aged 95.Dr Karugu, who has photographs of the encounter, said she whispered \u201csomething special\u201d in his ear during the meeting.Karugu said she asked the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12],"tags":[1151,1114,1152],"class_list":["post-1997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-caroline-karugu","tag-daniel-moi","tag-nyeri-deputy-governor"],"yoast_head":"\n