Tom Mboya: American Friends Were Expecting Assassination Attempt

July 5th Extra

Editor's note; Comments received from our July 5th Special seem to overwhelmingly demand for more information on Tom Mboya and his still unsolved assassination riddle. I have therefore decided to include a few more posts, specifically focusing on this. Many of our readers understand the simple fact that it is impossible to fully grasp and understand Kenyan politics today without understanding what Mboya stood for and why his life had to be so brutally snuffed out.

David Goldsworthy in his epic book, Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted To Forget points out that Mboya's American fiends had offered him extra security which he declined. It is clear that it was felt that his security was a joke.

Why did Mboya not seem to be scared for his own life?

Having launched his political career in the 1950s against the dreaded colonial government, and survived, it seems that both his past and the huge and growing national popularity he enjoyed conspired to give him a false sense of security.

Mboya probably felt, quite rightly, that despite the government's uneasiness with him, they would surely not dare take his life.

Those close to the Kenyatta administration had already started using their position and power to accumulate their vast wealth. Mboya was a hindrance, because he could see what was happening and he was a smart political operator. Actually he was the only thing that stood between them and untold riches. To make matters worse, there was general election slated for later in the year and there were all sorts of rumours flying around. Including one to the effect that Mboya would challenge President Kenyatta for the presidency.

Then there was this issue that ironically was the very same on that was destined to cause the murder of foreign minister Robert Ouko 21 years later. Everybody knew that Mboya help a lot of sway with the Americans and it was even believed that he was a CIA operative.

This influence he had with super power America, really unnerved Kenyatta and his kitchen cabinet. Just three years earlier the Americans had ruthlessly influenced things in Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo) and had brought their man Mobutu Sese Seko to power, causing the assassination of charismatic Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. This had been done right under the watchful eyes of other Earopean powers like the French and the Belgians who had longer associations with Zaire.

The Kenyan government was very close to its' former colonial master Britain and it did not take too much imagination to picture the same sort of thing happening in Kenya. Congo was extremely significant to the Americans because it was rich in minerals and more so because of one particular type of mineral that was found in Zaire – Uranium. In the same way, Kenya's position made it a very strategic place for the Americans in the event of a war with the Soviets.

If the Zaire situation were to be repeated in Kenya, there was no doubting whom the Americans would favor for the presidency. It had to be their own man Mboya.

Mboya probably made things worse for himself from the efficient clinical and ruthless methods he had used to consign his nemesis Jaramogi Oginga Odinga to political oblivion.

The Kenyatta administration had used Mboya as independent Kenya's first minister for constitutional affairs to water down the Lancaster House Independence constitution by dismantling the federal-like aspects in the document pushed through by rival KADU at the constitutional talks in London. This was done while transferring a lot of power to the presidency. One master stroke of constitutional-changing genius by Mboya forced Jaramogi out. Mboya simply proposed a new party structure where the party would have 8 vice presidents, one from each province. This amendment sailed through and effectively wiped out the power base of the then party vice president. Jaramogi resigned in a huff. But Mboya's craftiness did not end there. Yet another constitutional amendment, this time in parliament swiftly sailed through requiring that any candidate who changed political parties would have to seek fresh mandate from the people. This amendment still haunts politicians in parliament to this day. There is a particularly messy situation in parliament at the moment where there are virtually no MPs left in the original Narc which won an overwhelming victory in the last general elections.

In 1969, Jaramogi swiftly registered the KPU (Kenya People's Union), but Mboya was a step ahead and was already working on water-tight technicalities (a different one for every popular KPU candidate) that would disqualify them at the nomination process, leaving the Kanu candidates to sail through to election victory.

The writing was clearly on the wall – having Mboya as an opponent in any political contest was just plain suicide. It was clear that this was a very dangerous man indeed. Something had to be done.

Kenyatta's inner circle had to find a way to deal with Mboya, if they planned to stay in power so as to continue with the rampant corruption and land grabbing. This is the most plausible of all motives for the assassination of Mboya

(To be continued)

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