Tom Mboya
One of our generation's most brilliant politicians was Tom Joseph Mboya (TJ).
Tom Mboya Early Life
Tom Mboya was born on August 15, 1930, in Kilimambogo, a sisal-rich region of Central Kenya. Leonardus Ndiege and Marcella Awour's son Tom Mboya. He went by the name Thomas Joseph Mboya Odhiambo in full. But who actually enjoys long names? He was hence simply referred to as Tom Mboya(TJ).
Tom Mboya began his education in one of the many catholic mission schools that were prevalent in pre-colonial times. He began attending St. Mary's School Yala in the huge province of Nyanza. He enrolled at Holy Ghost College in 1946 and then moved on to Mang'u.
Tom Mboya loved learning and was only willing to read endlessly. As a result of his success at Mang'u, he entered the Royal Sanitary Institute in 1948 and began studies in medicine and sanitation there. Tom Mboya persisted. Additionally, he enrolled in an economics course at a South African college.
Tom Mboya's parents were Luo farm laborers who had recently converted to Catholicism and enrolled him in mission schools at a young age. Tom Mboya was close to graduating in 1947, but due to his father's meager income, he was unable to pay for Tom Mboya to finish the last pre-examination course.
Tom Mboya made the decision to enroll in the medical program at the Royal Sanitary Institute, which paid for his training and allowed him to help pay for his younger brother's academic expenses. At the school, where Tom Mboya also served as president of the student council and engaged in the debate club, Tom Mboya first got involved in labor organizing.
After receiving his degree in 1951, Tom Mboya was assigned to perform sanitary inspections in Nairobi. Many of Kenya's political and trade union leaders were detained by British authorities at the same time the anticolonial Mau Mau revolt broke out. In 1953, Tom Mboya quit his job as an inspector to devote himself full-time to the expanding labor movement.
Tom Mboya |
What Was The Main Contribution Of Tom Mboya In The History Of Kenya?
Tom Mboya established the Kenya Local Government Workers' Union (KLGWU) in 1952, and within eight months, membership increased from 450 to 1,300. Tom Mboya was appointed secretary-general of the newly united Kenya Federation of Labor (KFL), which had brought together five of Kenya's biggest industrial unions, a year later. Tom Mboya and the KFL emerged as the principal voice for Africans in the colony after the Kenya African Union (KAU) was outlawed.
Under the direction of Tom Mboya, the KFL organized protests against the colonial government's widespread expulsions, detentions, and covert trials of the Mau Mau rebels and those who supported them.
The British Labour Party saw Tom Mboya's successful campaigning and awarded him a scholarship to study industrial management at Oxford University between 1955 and 1956. He made links with British trade unionists and intellectuals while learning about British socialism there.
When Tom Mboya arrived back in Kenya in 1956, the Mau Mau uprising was over and political groups that supported African interests were now permitted. In order to strive for more political representation, Tom Mboya founded the Nairobi Peoples' Convention Party (PCP) and was elected to the hitherto all-white Legislative Council (Legco) in 1957. Tom Mboya eventually managed to obtain 14 seats for Africans, which corresponds to 6 million Kenyans (representing 60,000 Europeans).
Tom Mboya joined the Kenyan government in 1963 after gaining independence and was named secretary-general of the important Kenya African National Union (KANU) in 1960. He promoted open negotiations, transparent government, institution development, and a mixed, capitalist economy while serving as minister of labor, then economic planning.
In 1969, an assassin connected to President Jomo Kenyatta, a former political ally who Tom Mboya later accused of dishonesty and graft, ended his triumph and ambitions for further development. He was a leader we had never had, a true hero.
Tom Mboya was a skilled and cunning operator and organizer, but the system cruelly exploited Tom Mboya’s skills before it also violently got rid of Tom Mboya.
As Secretary-General of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), Tom Mboya, for instance, skillfully neutralized Oginga Odinga at the KANU Limuru Conference in 1966 by proposing an amendment to the KANU constitution that established a KANU Vice-President for each of Kenya's then-eight provinces. Oginga Odinga was the only Vice-President of the KANU before this. Oginga Odinga abruptly resigned from his positions as KANU Vice-President and Vice-President of Kenya. April 1966 was this time.
After leaving KANU, Oginga Odinga founded the Kenya Peoples Union (KPU). It appeared as though Jomo Kenyatta's government would topple when a number of KANU MPs followed Oginga to KPU. By proposing an amendment to the Kenyan Constitution requiring any defecting Member of Parliament to obtain a new mandate from the public, Tom Mboya pulled off another brilliant maneuver.
Many KPU lawmakers chose to return to KANU out of caution. KPU did poorly in the subsequent by-elections in 1966, sometimes known as the "mini-elections," winning only a small number of seats. In the 1966 "mini-elections," two of Oginga Odinga's closest allies, Bildad Kaggia and Achieng Oneko, even lost their parliamentary seats.
And it didn't stop there; Tom Mboya made sure that all of Oginga Odinga's men were defeated in the COTU elections that took place after the 1966 "mini-elections," which were held by the powerful and influential Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU).
Oginga Odinga was expertly and bluntly defeated by Tom Mboya, and Oginga Odinga's brief "rebirth" was made possible by Tom Mboya's murder in July 1969; as a result, Oginga Odinga was arrested by Jomo Kenyatta in October 1969 and freed in March 1971.
Throughout the remainder of Jomo Kenyatta's presidency, Oginga Odinga remained a non-person. Oginga Odinga's career was revitalized by President Daniel T. arap Moi when he appointed him to the position of Chairman of the Cotton Lint & Marketing Board. However, Oginga Odinga was fired in 1981 for making extreme leftist political statements, such as "Jomo Kenyatta was a land grabber."
Oginga Odinga maintains a low profile from 1981 to 1992, with the exception of the unsuccessful attempt he and George Anyona made to register the Kenya Socialist Congress as a political party in early 1982. In order to prevent any further Oginga Odinga/George Anyona-style actions, the Kenyan government officially altered the Kenyan constitution through the Kenyan Parliament in June 1982, creating a one-party state with the Kenya African National Union as the ruling party (KANU).
The bill to turn Kenya into a one-party State was introduced in Parliament by none other than the country's vice president at the time, Mwai Kibaki, and it passed with flying colors and became law practically immediately.
Oginga Odinga returned to his Bondo parliamentary seat in 1992 after a 23-year absence, the first time since 1969 when he had lost it due to his aforementioned arrest. However, he finished a distant fourth in the 1992 presidential race. The death of Oginga Odinga occurred in January 1994.
In a historic incident, President Jomo Kenyatta and those around him used TJ Mboya's cunning to save their own skins before eliminating Tom Mboya because he posed an unacceptable threat.
Tom Mboya had made it known that he intended to run for president in the 1969 election. Charles Njonjo, the attorney general of Kenya, then filed a bill in Parliament in 1968 that sought to increase the age requirement for presidential candidates from 35 to 40 years old.
Tom Mboya was born on August 15, 1930, and he would have turned 40 on August 15, 1970, so if the Bill had become law, he would not have been able to run for president in the 1969 election.
However, the Bill was not passed, therefore Tom Mboya was still planning to run for president in 1969.
Tom Mboya's Assassination |
When Did Tom Mboya Died?
Tom Mboya, Kenya's Minister of Economic Planning and Development, was out and about in downtown Nairobi on a peaceful Saturday afternoon. He entered Chhani's Pharmacy to purchase a lotion bottle. An assassin opened fire as he emerged and made off in the ensuing commotion.
Tom Mboya was struck in the chest, blood soaking his suede jacket, and died in an ambulance on the way to Nairobi Hospital. Soon, grieving Kenyans flocked to the hospital in such large numbers that police with batons were dispatched to disperse the crowd.
Both the 1969 Kenyan elections and the assassination of Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (TJ) took place on December 6, 1969. It is difficult to avoid drawing a connection between the dates of the assassination of Tom Mboya on July 5, 1969, and election day in Kenya in 1969, which was on December 6, 1969.
Tom Mboya's assassins were evidently growing more and more desperate as the 1969 elections drew nearer and nearer, indicating that Tom Mboya had to go. Like President John F. Kennedy's assassination in the US in 1963, Tom Mboya's was sloppy, rough, amateurish, and desperate, but this was obviously of little concern to those who carried it out;
Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge, the murderer of Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (accompanying image). Nahashon Njenga, the assassin who killed Tom Mboya, responded, "Why don't you ask the 'Big Man' that question?" when asked in court who had ordered him to kill Tom Mboya. The identity of the "Big Man" has never been revealed, but it is rather obvious.
For instance, after Tom Mboya was killed, there were Mau Mau-style protests in many areas of Kenya's Central Province, including at Jomo Kenyatta's private home in Ichaweri, Gatundu, to make sure "that the presidency did not leave Central Province."
Nahashon Isaac Njenga
Since Tom Mboya was killed in front of a pharmacy on Government Road (now Moi Avenue). Both the actual assassin and the organization funding it are still unknown.
Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge, a former KANU youth-winger who occasionally made money on the side by intimidating businesspeople with threats of his connections with powerful politicians, is suspected of being the assassin. His trial was so meticulously orchestrated that there is little doubt that it was stage-managed.
Media, particularly foreign journalists, were typically denied access; those in the public gallery were scrutinized and watched. The trial served only as a prelude to Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge 's execution because he had already admitted to killing Tom Mboya.
This expertly orchestrated performance, however, was almost spoiled by a comment made by Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge in a casual manner.
Nahashon Njenga questioned as he was being given a hanging sentence, "What about the big man?"
Nahashon Njenga raised a question with that comment that, in many ways, lies at the core of politics in independent Kenya.
Historians, journalists and others have debated for over 50 years now over the identity of the Big Man.
Silent accusations have been made against members of Kenyatta's inner circle. Many people have speculated that foreign intelligence was involved, or at the very least, had a good enough reason to want Tom Mboya killed and benefited greatly from it. Or perhaps it was a lone shooter motivated by unresolved personal issues with the young, attractive politician. Nothing has ever been confirmed or proven.
The queries continue. We shall attempt to respond to the fundamental inquiries surrounding Tom Mboya 's assassination using recently declassified evidence from a number of sources, including the US State Department and records from archives in Kenya and the United Kingdom: Who gave the order to attack Tom Mboya? Was there another shooter?
Was there a connection between the assassins of Tom Mboya and the conspiracy to kill Vice President Daniel arap Moi almost six years later? Did Tom Mboya know there was a plan to kill Pio Gama Pinto? Was there a connection between President Kenyatta, Charles Njonjo, Bruce Mackenzie, and MI5? Did the MI5 wish to have Tom Mboya removed?
Additionally, did Nahashon Njenga actually use Mboya's gun as later claimed (part of the somewhat ridiculous theory that Mboya planned to kill Kenyatta, Nahashon Njenga knew about it, and in a fit of patriotism, killed Tom Mboya instead - using Tom Mboya's gun)?
Daniel arap Moi, who was vice president at the time, later told Parliament that the murder of Tom Mboya was "monstrously conceived but wonderfully planned and carried out."
It was an odd way to phrase it, especially in light of the fact that Tom Mboya's passing had sparked the worst riots in Kenya's post-independence history and had widened the country's already-existing ethnic and political differences to the point where they threatened to split the nation in two.
It seems strange that late. Moi would describe the killing as "brilliantly planned and carried out" given that Tom Mboya had almost little security on the day of the attack and was in fact alone himself at a drugstore in the heart of Nairobi on a Saturday, when the city is almost deserted. What is the late ex-president aware of?
Nahashon Njenga appeared in court on August 13; the trial was concluded in a matter of weeks, and he was found guilty and given the death penalty.
Significantly, the Kenya National Archives' copies of the trial's records are no longer available. Thus, in many ways, the notion that the State was involved in Tom Mboya's murder and the following cover-up are related.
At the same time, we also want to examine Tom Mboya's significance in life and the effects of his passing.
So it seems Nahashon Njenga was the scapegoat... Only concealed evidence;
Nahashon Njenga also posed the question of whether or not he went with the murderer. Is Nahashon Njenga the person who fired the gun? Was the boss of Nahashon Njenga present? The individual who provided them instructions as police informants. Nahashon Njenga had the self-assurance to follow the man's orders and take the pistol, hiding it in his own home. He had faith that the "big man" had everything under control.
That is why he questioned the police when he was detained during questioning as to why they did not also detain the "big man"? Nahashon Njenga was well known to the police, yet they were unable to apprehend him. None of the witnesses who were present at the scene during the identification parade could place Nahashon Njenga.
Nahashon Njenga Brief History
Nahashon Njenga was put on trial at the High Court on August 19, 1969, after being accused of killing the Cabinet Minister on July 5, 1969.
Nahashon Njenga attended the prestigious Vasil Levski Higher Military Academy, which has the name of a revolutionary from Bulgaria who organized an armed rebellion of all Bulgarians against the Ottoman Empire.
Nahashon Njenga diplomas, which were displayed in court, attested to his training in internal combustion engines, military tactics, and fire preparations.
The convicted assassin was allegedly chosen by Tom Mboya and the late Oginga Odinga to participate in training programs in Bulgaria together with a contentious group of KANU youth wingers.
Thus, the police were perplexed as to why a person Tom Mboya trusted turned out to be his murderer. The query has not been addressed over 50 years later. Nahashon Njenga jumped directly into Nairobi's fast life after his return from Bulgaria.
Nahashon Njenga used to drink at The Princess Hotel, which unfortunately was situated along what is now Tom Mboya Street, and his Simca with the registration number KGR 250 was constantly parked there.
Nahashon Njenga owned a home in Banana Hill on Limuru Road and rented a home in Ofafa Jericho in Plot No. U3, House No. 4486. Nahashon Njenga also operated his enterprises, including Kemco Motors, a used vehicle dealership on University Way, from a private office in Room 27 of Lombard House.
On that fatal day, Nahashon Njenga is alleged to have approached the minister as he exited Chhani's Pharmacy on Government Road (today's Moi Avenue), shot him at point-blank range, and then ducked into the crowd.
Nahashon Njenga was accused of the murder sixteen days later, as violent riots shook Nairobi and Kisumu. Nahashon Njenga is claimed to have spent a portion of the day in a pub in Ngara before starting on his alleged quest.
Nahashon Njenga encountered Mary Njeri Munyuiri, a witness who gave testimony at his hearing, there and said to her, "Tom Mboya is a nasty man." "Nahashon Njenga said he would go find Tom Mboya, and he did". An excerpt from her police testimony states, "And when he saw him, he would shoot him".
It was never made clear why Tom Mboya and his former youth winger Nahashon Njenga had a falling out. Nahashon Njenga claimed to have been storing the murder weapon for a close friend who attended the Bulgarian military academy, but he never explicitly admitted to having it.
Due to the fact that the assassination's motivation was never made public, the charismatic Minister's murder falls under the category of unsolved mysteries.
Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge. (front). The assassin was reportedly hanged at Kamiti Prison for the murder of Tom Mboya on July 5, 1969. |
The Trial of Nahashon Njenga
On September 1st, 1969, High Court Judge Justice Simpson commenced Nahashon Njenga 's trial. Scottish-born Simpson had extensive judicial and legal experience from his work in several Commonwealth nations prior to his 1967 appointment as a High Court judge in Kenya.
The government made the decision to nominate an outsider in order to dispel any potential bias concerns that would have tainted the trial. To be absolutely clear that he wouldn't participate in any dishonesty in the case, Chief Justice Kitili Mwendwa went one step further.
On Wednesday, September 10, after noon, Mr. Justice Simpson showed up in court to give his verdict. The two African evaluators were first given the opportunity to voice their opinions. While Onyango found Nahashon Njenga guilty, Mr. M'Wirichia found Nahashon Njenga not guilty. Judges, however, were not required by Kenyan law to adopt the assessors' conclusions.
Simpson expressed delight that the bullets discovered in Tom Mboya's body were from the gun discovered in Nahashon Njenga 's possession while delivering his verdict in a quiet Scottish highland voice. He didn't buy into Njenga's or Kahuha's claims that they got the gun from Kisii tribesmen the day after the murder.
Nahashon Njenga was surprised when the hangman woke him up in the middle of the night on Saturday, November 8, 1969, and marched him to the gallows for execution, according to information given by the hangman to the British Ml5.
Nahashon Njenga sobbed uncontrollably out of disbelief. The strange thing was that Saturdays and Sundays were never used for executions. Additionally, the Catholic priest who typically performed the last rites for death row inmates was absent, and the prison doctor showed there only after the hangman gave him a heads-up.
In this case, Attorney General Charles Njonjo gave specific instructions, directing that only the hangman and the Commissioner of Prisons should be aware of the execution. Nahashon Njenga allegedly dropped several hints before being hanged but never named anyone.
The soap opera starts rolling…
George Justus Morara |
George Justus Morara
George Justus Morara, a West Mugirango MP, encountered met Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge, the man who had killed Tom Mboya, the minister of constitutional affairs, on July 5, 1969, while he sipped his drink one late evening in Lusaka, Zambia, in the beginning of September 1970.
While on official business, George Justus Morara, one of the stunned members of the Social Welfare and Employment parliamentary committee, confronted Nahashon Njenga, who fled the club in a panic. The authorities had previously declared that Nahashon Njenga had received a death sentence and had been hung for killing the influential Cabinet minister on Nairobi's Government Road (present-day Moi Avenue).
George Justus Morara and a few members of the House team, lead by Kandara MP George Mwicigi, traveled to Parliament buildings after landing at Nairobi's Embakasi Airport in preparation for a scheduled press conference.
George Justus Morara revealed the group's contact with Nahashon Njenga in Lusaka in no uncertain terms, and he gave the government a 48-hour deadline to produce the Nahashon Njenga who had received training in Bulgaria.
George Justus Morara passed away 48 hours later after being involved in an odd car accident on the Kakamega-Kisumu route. Even though he was only 34 years old, George Justus Morara was considered to be one of the most promising politicians, with talk of him being president in the future.
The cause of the fiery politician's passing is still unknown. Friends and family claim George Justus Morara was killed by state agents working for President Jomo Kenyatta as part of a larger cover-up of Tom Mboya's murder, but some think it was just a tragic accident.
On the evening of Saturday, September 12, 1970, the day George Justus Morara passed away, Mzee Kenyatta sent a note of condolence. He wrote: "I have learned with deep grief of Mr. Morara's premature demise, who had launched his political career with vigor and life. He quickly demonstrated his desire and capacity to serve the country, and through his work in Parliament and lengthy travels around the republic, he made a significant contribution”.
Mr. Benson Kegoro, who succeeded George Justus Morara as West-Mugirango MP in a subsequent by-election, describes him as straight-talking and a thorn in the side of the administration. He notes that his predecessor had a singular passion to serve the people.
"We don't know exactly what happened. Given that he consistently criticized the government, it's possible that he was killed in a car accident as claimed, or someone may have planned to have him silenced”.
In India, George Justus Morara’s wife passed away in October 2010 from issues relating to her heart. In response to repeated complaints to the government over his father's claimed assassination, Duke, the second child, departed the country out of fear for his life.
“George Justus Morara was born a fearless and courageous fighter whose main interest in life was to fight for justice of all people," Public Works Minister James Nyamweya said on September 17, 1970, during his charged burial ceremony, which was attended by Speaker of the National Assembly Fred Mati, six Cabinet ministers, and several MPs.
In fact, George Justus Morara began his first speech in the House of Representatives in February 1970 by making a strong statement about President Kenyatta: "Mr. Speaker, I would like to make my maiden address by making this point. His Excellency has a very positive outlook on life. He is, however, being misled, misinformed, and given bad advice by certain people who would otherwise like to get the best piece of the national cake. The rest of the nation suffers as a result”.
The West Mugirango MP (George Justus Morara) did not hesitate to publicly criticize the government or demand that the Head of State clean up his act for the remainder of his brief term in office. George Justus Morara is noted as criticizing the government's failure to resolve tribal problems in one of the Hansard reports.
"Mr. Speaker, some people are passing away right now as we speak in this House. People are being slain, there are daytime cattle raids, and there are daytime robberies. We take 20 lives when they take one. But none of this merits being proud of. When something is said in this House but nothing is done, how can we possibly live in peace?” He reacted angrily to Deputy Speaker Dr. Munyua Waiyaki, saying, "The credibility and dignity of government have been called into question."
George Justus Morara 's thoughts may seem innocent and commonplace in modern times, but at the time, only a small number of politicians—among them J.M. Kariuki, Mark Mwithaga, and Martin Shikuku—dared to criticize the President and his government.
James Nakhwanga Osogo, a former minister of commerce and industry, recalls George Justus Morara as a firebrand with a gift for eloquently communicating his views. When he passed away, a distraught Osogo noted that Parliament would miss his "fiery remarks" very much.
George Justus Morara was born in 1936 in the little community of Nyakeore in West Mugirango, in the present-day Nyamira County. Before enrolling at Kisii High School, Morara attended Sironga and Kamagambo primary schools.
Later, he continued on to Buffalo University in Michigan, the US, and upon his return in 1964, he worked as a District Officer in the civil service in a number of stations, including Kisumu, Maseno, Homa Bay, Eldama Ravine, and Maralal. He eventually left the administration and temporarily held a top position at BP/Shell before leaving to enter politics.
Mark Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) and Nyarangi Moturi, two of Morara's parliamentary colleagues, are reported to have been with him on the day of his death (North Mugirango). In Morara's automobile, the group is said to have driven upcountry from Nairobi, getting out in Nakuru (following a brief fight).
For business, including a meeting with his friend, Kakamega District Commissioner Ezekiel Nyarangi, Morara traveled by himself to Kakamega.
In Nakuru, he has a street named after George Justus Morara.
Where is Tom Mboya Buried?
On Friday, July 11, Tom Mboya, Kenya's assassinated Minister for Economic Planning, was laid to rest at his father's property on the tiny Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria.
Tom Mboya’s Mausoleum
One of the most popular places to visit is the late Tom Mboya tomb on Rusinga Island. Because of Thomas Joseph Mboya's exceptional contribution to the development of Kenya and post-colonial Africa, it was constructed in his honor. In 2001, it was declared a national monument.
It is situated near his cemetery site in his rural house, which is around 10 kilometers from Mbita Town. Tom Mboya was a trailblazing labor unionist who was also a clever, likable, and articulate politician and statesman.
The Iconic Tom Mboya Mausoleum
The Iconic Tom Mboya Mausoleum |
The tomb has a variety of Tom Mboya’s collections and personal effects on display. When Tom Mboya was murdered on July 5, 1969, he was carrying his beloved black and white fly-whisks and a briefcase. Two years later, in 1971, people from all over the world came together to create the mausoleum in his memory.
The famous mausoleum is fashioned after a bullet, which is what took Mboya's life. The curators claim that the door is shaped like a coffin with a cross, signifying that the man was a devout Catholic.
Best Quotes by Tom Mboya
“I have news for you, there is no Superman (it’s up to us.)”
“We will never, never sell our freedom for capital or technical aid. We stand for freedom at any cost”.
“Pan Africanism is changing the arbitrary and often illogical boundaries set up by the colonial powers in their mad scramble for Africa Many students of African Affairs are constantly asking us what sort of societies or governments we hope to set up when our freedom is won…It will not be a blue-print copy of what is commonly referred to as western. What we shall create should be African, conditioned and related to conditions and circumstances of Africa. It shall be enriched by our ability to borrow or take what is good from other systems, creating a synthesis of this with the best of our own systems and cultures.”
“Africa is a continent surging with impatient nationalist movements striving to win freedom and independence. Apart from this struggle, there is the struggle against disease, poverty and ignorance. Unless these three evils are defeated, political freedom would become hollow and meaningless…the motive behind various nationalist movements should always be geared towards the security of all our people, higher standards of living and social advancement.”
~Tom Mboya on July 1st 1958 at Makerere University.
“African states will not tolerate interference from outside by any country – and that means power blocs that have nothing better to do but fight each other – let them do it outside of Africa.”
“We do not intend to be undermined by those who pay lip service to democracy, but have a long way to go in their own countries.”
“We will never, never sell our freedom for capital or technical aid. We stand for freedom at any cost.”
~Tom Mboya on 8th December 1959 as he chaired the All Africa People’ s Conference
“We will never, never sell our freedom for capital or technical aid. We stand for freedom at any cost”.
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