When Moi visited the White House in 1980, one of the key issues President Carter raised with him was that Kenyans were giving birth too much, and this could present a serious problem for Kenya in the future.
By then Kenya’s population was 16.02 million. Carter suggested a birth control programme in Kenya , but chided Moi, saying that as a father of seven children, he doubted whether he would be the best person to lead such a campaign in Kenya.
Moi defended himself, saying that, in fact, he had publicly urged Kenyans not to produce children that couldn’t be taken care of.
Carter asked Moi whether he had discussed the matter with any foreign government, and Moi replied that he had looked at what had been done to control population in Singapore.
Carter agreed with him saying that Prime Minister Lee had done a good job but he had a small country.Carter commented that the reason why Lee succeeded in Singapore was because he used penalties and rewards to reduce births, and suggested whether Moi could pursue such a scheme.
Moi replied that such such a system would be difficult because Kenya is so large, also pointing out that there were other ways to tackle the problem.
Le Melle, the US Ambassador to Kenya who was also present suggested that what Kenya needed was policy leadership in this field, revealing that Kenya was one of the first countries to establish in 1966 a population council.
Moi said that such a program would be difficult to implement because of financial difficulties.
He also said that people with one or two children were the best people to lead any family planning campaign.Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who was also at the meeting, suggested that convening a conference in Nairobi was one of the best options to raise interest in family planning measures.
He stated that the US government would sponsor such a conference. In conclusion, Carter said that he was once a governor of a southern state with a high birth rate.
He found the most effective slogan was the phrase “we want every child to be a wanted child. He told Moi that if this problem could be handled sensitively, an effective program could be operated.
