Blackmail dogged Kenya's Tom Mboya throughout his political life

By: Peter Orengo
[

][Post to BookMarks @ AfroArticles.com]

[ Posted On: 2008-08-01 ]

On July 5 1969, Kenya's most distinguished and prominent politician Tom Mboya was assassinated by a gunman outside a chemist in Nairobi.

The circumstances of his death remain a mystery although his killer was later found, prosecuted and sentenced.

It was widely rumoured that his profile and illustrious career as a brilliant and charismatic leader were seen as challenges to the political establishment, and might have led to his assassination.

Now, 39 years later, fresh scrutiny of declassified documents and letters at the Kenya National Archives, reveal a story of a man who struggled to fight blackmail, coercion, allegations and character assassination all his political life.

Political agitation

The documents are in the form of personal letters, official correspondence and newspaper articles, mainly touching on the life of Mboya from 1952 to the time of his assassination.

The crime scene: Crowds at the scene
where Mboya was shot.

Some documents are marked 'private' and how they came into Mr Joseph Murumbi's (collector) possession seems strange.

That some letters and articles contain sensitive content shows that someone employed time and resources to put up Mboya's dossier with a purpose.

It starts with trade union movements of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period that saw the emergence of various unions. Africa was being rocked by political agitation and calls for freedom.

While organised political parties were operating from the underground, trade unions became the only force allowed to operate openly, with direct contact with the people.

And Mboya, who had just returned from his studies at Ruskin College, Oxford, UK, became the general secretary for the Kenya Local Government Workers Union.

He was later elected general secretary of the Kenya Federation of Registered Trade Unions, which gave way to the Kenya Federation of Labour.

On December 15, 1960, in a four-page statement to the Press, Mboya acquits himself of what he termed "serious malicious allegations" made against him in a pamphlet published titled, 'The great conspiracy against Africa'. Written by Gogo Nzeribe, secretary-general of a splinter group in the Nigerian Labour Movement, it claimed to publish a secret British Cabinet paper alleging that Mboya, among other trade union leaders, was involved in a "conspiracy against Africa".

The content of the pamphlet and other related publications would later haunt Mboya's political life and became a subject of speculation after his death.

Njoroge Mungai, Jomo Kenyatta a.k.a Johnstone
Kamau, Mwinga Chokwe and Tom Mboya

This was happening at a time when the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was facing a possible split by some African trade unionists who wanted to form an autonomous African union, All African Trade Union Federation (AATUF).

Mboya supported a neutralist policy where KFL remained an affiliation of ICFTU, a position his opponents saw as siding with the imperialists.

"Efforts have been made previously to blacken my name on account of my stand on continual affiliation with the ICFTU. A few African labour leaders, who had declared war on ICFTU, referred to me as an imperialist stooge because I would not submit to dictation or imposition," the statement reads.

This was a time when trade union rivalry was at its peak, a fact that almost ruined the movement. The colonial government allowed their formation to prevent organised Unions. The trade unions soon became an instrument of agitation. One notable thing happened. Solidarity Building, the KFL headquarters, was erected with most of the money raised by Mboya. The building cost more than Sh700,000, a substantial amount at the time. Speculation abounded as to who was funding Mboya's activities.

But terming the pamphlet a tool for character assassination full of malicious falsehood, Mboya claimed that some people in Kenya were showing the copy of a document to some "individuals", especially after failing to produce any pact alleged to have been signed by him against Kenyatta's release.

Mboya, then a member of the Legco and Kanu secretary-general, was to later give an account of the events to Kenyatta who was detained in Lodwar.

A letter on March 11, 1960 and copied to Paul Ngei and Bildad Kaggia, Mboya wrote: "Whereas some people have tried to suggest that I am an obstacle in the way of African unity, that I am not sincere nor honest, I refute this. I only know so well that, I, like many others, may have made some tactical errors, but I believe such errors were honest and genuine efforts and my positive contributions far outweigh such errors."

Countrywide elections had just been held and Kanu had won 17 of 33 seats, and Kadu, the opposition party, 11. Mboya believed that Kanu could have won more seats except for what he termed "apparent conflicts at the national office and indiscipline among Kanu officials".

He went ahead to inform Kenyatta that his problems were caused by envy, jealousy and tribalism among intellectuals and other leaders.

This letter read like a reply to another because its content appears to be on the defensive, carefully drafted and outlining points as answers to questions.

He does not name anyone, but the letter goes ahead to say Mboya's problems stemmed from his association with foreign contacts allegedly funding him.

He ends: "I will not go into personalities as I consider that to be negative. I will hate to appear to be a hero at your expense... these imperialists are known to be masters at the game of divide and confusion."

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Peter Orengo

| View Profile & All Articles By: Peter Orengo |

		Post Comment
		Blog This Article!
		Discuss Article in Forum(s)
		Publication \| Reprint Terms

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Kenya Articles Via RSS!

| Category Feeds | All-in-one Feed | Other Feed & Syndication Options |

Additional Articles From - Home | Politics | Africa | Kenya

	Print This Article
	Post Comment
	Add To Favorites
	Email To Friends
	Ezine Ready \| Syndication
	Make PDF Article
	Post To del.icio.us
	Post To Furl
	Add To Google Bookmarks
	Submit To Netscape
	Add To Yahoo! My Web
	Add Main Feed To Outlook
	Post to BookMarks @ AfroArticles.com

	Post To BookMarkAfrica.com

Site Home

Article Categories

More Search Options

Site Map

Submit Articles

Top Authors

Most Recent Articles