Why Moi Day holiday was restored after 7-year ‘break’, renamed Utamaduni

Kenyans across the country are today, October 10, celebrating Utamaduni Day. This is the second time the holiday is being observed in the country.

The day is set aside to celebrate the country’s cultural diversity and heritage.

The holiday, previously called Moi Day, was celebrated to honour the late retired President Daniel Arap Moi.

In December 2019, the Cabinet approved its renaming to Huduma Day and later Utamaduni Day in 2020 to celebrate the country’s rich cultural diversity.

In a communication to newsrooms, the Presidential Strategic Communications Unit said the renaming of the holiday was in line with President Moi’s desire that the day should be ‘commemorated as a day of service and volunteerism’.

Why Utamaduni Day?

The renaming of Moi Day followed a High Court ruling that declared the scrapping of the holiday as an illegality in 2017.

The ruling followed a case filed in court to challenge the removal of Moi Day from a list of Kenyan national holidays recognised in the country following the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution. The judgement saw the holiday restored after a seven-year break.

In his ruling, Justice George Odunga said the omission of the holiday was an illegality and a breach of the Public Holidays Act.

Justice Odunga was of the view that if parliament wanted to scrap the holiday, the House should have amended the Public Holidays Act.

“I hereby grant a declaration that omission to have the 10th day of October observed as a public holiday is an illegality,” Justice Odunga ruled.

“I further declare that unless Parliament amends the Act or the minister substitutes for another date, October 10 shall, in each year, continue being a public holiday.”

In the case, lawyer Gregory Nyauchi had sued the Cabinet Secretaries for Interior, East Africa Community, Labour, and the Attorney General.

“This was a case no other lawyer had done. So I invested my time to do some legal research and paid Ksh10,000 (about $98) as court filing fees. I wasn’t sure it could come to this,” Nyauchi said in a past interview.

The petitioner told the court that the move to strike off the public holiday denied workers their right to have a day off and allowances for that day.

In his findings, Justice Odunga observed that although Moi Day was not a national day, the celebration of that day as a public holiday did not contravene the law.

“Moi Day is mandatory and thus the inaction on the part of the minister amounts to abuse of discretion,” the judge was told.

“Whereas the day is not a national day it is clear that as far as the provisions of the Public Holidays Act is concerned, the day is still a holiday unless it is shown that its celebration runs counter to the provisions of section 7(1) of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution. In other words, I am not satisfied that the celebration of Moi Day as a public holiday as opposed to a national day is not in tandem with the provisions of the Constitution of Kenya,” he added.

Moi died on February 4, 2020, after a long illness.

While declaring Monday a public holiday on Friday, October 7, outgoing Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i urged Kenyans to mark the day in a way that promotes the country’s unity, national cohesion, and economic progress.

“In line with Section 2 (1) and 4 and Part One of the Schedule of Public Holidays Act (Cap 110), and pursuant to the declaration of the High Court of 6th November 2017 (Judicial Review 292 of 2017: Republic vs Cabinet Secretary for Internal Security ex parte Gragory Oriaro Nyauchi & four others), it is hereby notified that Monday, 10th October 2022, will be a public holiday (Utamaduni Day),” Matiang’i said.

“All citizens are reminded to honour the day by recognizing and celebrating the rich cultural diversity of Kenya in a manner that promotes our unity, national cohesion, and economic progress,” he added.

Kenyans celebrate a total of 12 public holidays in a year. Five of the holidays are based on religion and three on the country’s independence. The three are Madaraka Day, Jamhuri Day and Mashujaa Day, formerly called Kenyatta Day.