A peek into Kenya’s recent history after independence, the life and times of a couple of politicians is exciting and inspiring, but also tragic, because they weren’t allowed by the powers that be; to live their lives in full.
We have in no particular order, Pio Gama Pinto, Tom Mboya, J.M. Kariuki, Robert Ouko, etc.
This article is based on the Twitter long post, a thread by Lagaless (@lagaless) about some events in the life of Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya popularly referred to as Tom Mboya.
Tom Mboya Tom Mboya was born in Kilimambogo in Central Kenya, not Luo Nyanza. His parents were low-income sisal farmers. However, he managed to go onto good schools such as St Mary’s Yala and Mangu High School, that time know as Holy Ghost College. As a man with sharp mind & charm, leadership and great oratory skills, he ascended the ranks fo any organization that he came into Mboya was many things, above all a trade unionist with exciting organizational skills and a love for people. He achieved a lot at a younger age.
TJ Mboya on the cover of Time magazine At 28 yrs Mboya was elected Conference Chairman at the All-African Peoples’ Conference convened by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Around the same time, he organized for Kenyan students to be airlifted to the US for studies. These airlifts have us the likes of Wangari Maathai (Noble Peace Prize) and a couple of other notable post-independence trailblazers. Mboya is credited with creating the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) as the Cabinet Minister for Labour, and the National Youth Service (NYS).
As Economic Planning Minister, Mboya wrote the Sessional Paper Number 10 of 1965: African Socialism and its application to planning in Kenya. Critics say the paper was worthless.
THE ROAD TO HIS ASSASSINATION
Rising through the ranks in politics and loved by the entitled Kikuyu leaders, Mboya was used to put a stop to Jaramogi Oginga by first, competing with Jaramogi’s candidate in Nairobi, Argwings Kodhek and winning.
Secondly, Mboya competed with the more learned Odinga for the leadership of the African Elected Members organization.
Thirdly, Mboya and Odinga’s rivalry was more open as they supported rival candidates for various positions in the KANU party.
After the Kikuyu elite was done ‘cutting Jaramogi Odinga to size’, with the change of party constitution to weaken the Vice President Jaramogi in 1966, Odinga left KANU and formed Kenya People’s Union (KPU).
It was what the powers that be wanted and now they set their sights on Mboya. Mboya ‘had performed his most important function of helping the FAMILY liquidate Oginga. It was now his time to be liquidated’. – Ochieng P & Karimi J, The Kenyatta Succession
Definition of the FAMILY according to Karimi and Ochieng, The Kenyatta Succession, a people surrounding President Jomo Kenyatta, mostly his relatives.
A picture of a page from the book, The Kenyatta Succession showing explanation on who the FAMILY are
Mboya, after doing all this to finish Jaramogi, went ahead to propose that ‘all those who had crossed the floor (joined KPU) must seek a fresh mandate with the people’. Most of Odinga’s MPs didn’t make it after the’ Little General elections’ of 1966.
KANU won more seats.
However, there was still Mboya in the way. Ochieng and Karimi explain that the FAMILY, rich consisted of people from the Kenyatta clan (cousins, in-laws) wanted the presidency to remain with them. The clamour for constitutional change was at an all-time high
The change-the-constitution movement wanted to retain the presidency in the FAMILY and were wary of Daniel Arap Moi’s loyalty.
After removing Oginga, Mboya found himself in the other group, outside the president’s circle, in KANU ‘B’ according to Prof. Walter Oyugi, in the book Politics and Administration in East Africa.
The constitution still had to be changed. But the FAMILY feared Mboya still because of his numbers in Parliament. Mboya had been joined by the people that crossed the floor in 1964 from KADU Party. Their numbers waa bigger and more diverse than KANU ‘A’.
KADU leaders on the day they dissolved their opposition party to join the governing KANU in 1964. They are led by Masinde Muliro,centre left and Ronald Ngala,centre right.
The law was changed
So, they made the law that ‘in case the president died, the Vice President would succeed him for the remainder of the term’. This now is 1968.
To cut Mboya to size, they conducted elections, where his allies lost badly, for example, his arch-enemy Charles Rubia captured the Party leadership in Nairobi, substantially weakening Mboya’s political base, remember, Mboya had dominated Nairobi politics for 12 years, since 1956.
In Mombasa, a member of Mboya’s KANU ‘B’ Ronald Ngala was also ousted from party leadership in Mombasa.
Ronald Ngala’s ouster was disputed but the ‘Returning Officer’ and bosses in Nairobi quickly ratified the change through quick registration (Kibaki swearing at night, or Chebukati announcing without forms 34A etc) Mboya was caged.
Tom Mboya and the Kenyattas, Jomo and young Uhuru
A documentary on YouTube by Chris Kumekucha said, there was an assassination attempt on him before July. A policeman is said to have shot at his car but luckily Mboya was not in the car.
On the 5th of July, 1969 Mboya was shot dead on Government road (now Moi Avenue) as he was walking out of Chaani’s Pharmacy. Mboya’s killer is still a mystery, though a Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge was arrested later, convicted of the murder and hanged.
Doctors trying to resuscitate, save the life of Tom Mboya who had just been shot
The YouTube documentary has a twist, stating that it was actually the GSU Boss Ben Gethi who shot Mboya because ‘they didn’t want the plan to fail again’.
an uncanny resemblance
Mboya’s assassination brought a lot of riots and the country was unstable for more than 6 months. ‘Gimichamo en Mari, gimodong ki igen’ ‘Jowi!’
Photos
How a Newspaper reported the storyMboya the international citizen. Is that Martin Luther King Jr?Jaaramogi Oginga OdingaTom Mboya and US President John F. KennedyBook: Politics and Administration in East, edited by Prof Walter Oyugi
Book: The Kenyatta Succession by Joseph Karimi and Philip Ochieng
VIDEO, aftermath of Tom Mboya’s assassination
This rare video memorializes the assassination on July 5, 1969 of Tom Mboya capturing scenes outside Chani’s chemist where Nahashon Njenga shot him, the Nairobi Hospital where he died and the burial at his Rusinga Island home. Full short documentary here:https://t.co/AOKHFnw3P5pic.twitter.com/lITRJ8gvGS
