General Ogolla: Why Raila had to skip funeral and other untold secrets | Kenya news
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
A noble cause is launched
Below is the first letter to go to the press, of probably millions of letters that will go to the media over the next few weeks (if enough Kenyans care enough). You can look at it for ideas to help you compile your own masterpiece.
Kenya must be rescued from the hands of greedy individual selfish leaders who come to cheat us every time an election is called.
--------------------------------
Dear Editor/Watchman,
The only way to correct the current political mess is to correct mistakes of the past. And we should start with the brutal assasination Of Tom Mboya.
This gallnt son of Kenya was gunned down on the streets of Nairobi in broad daylight on July 5th 1969. To date we have not been told who the "big man" who ordered his killing was. Many leading politicians in Kenya today know the truth. We Kenyans are politically mature enough to handle the truth.
Mboya's killing and the fact that the issue was quickly forgotten gave the green light for the culture of land grabbing and seeking political office for personal gain. It also enhanced tribalism. These are our two major problems in Kenya today (thank you Mr Kaparo for stating the obvious).
If the Narc government is sincere (I assure you they are not) then they should tell us who ordered Mboya's killing and why. It would be nice if they told us before the 36th anniversary of his killing on July 5th.
A Patriotic Kenyan.
This July 5th you can help change the destiny of Kenya
You probably hear about all the terrible things happening in Kenya these days, especially the selfish and corrupt leadership we seem to have. And maybe you care less, after all what can you possibly do to bring about change?
Actually you can do a lot. Much more than you ever imagined.
For starters you can help make a difference by taking a few minutes to carefully read this letter and then taking action. You, a single individual can make a great difference. If you have never done anything for Kenya before, let this be the first noble, selfless, patriotic thing you do for your motherland.
You must be hearing lots of the bad news that’s coming from Kenya these days. The truth is that the people have lost hope with the leadership we ourselves elected on that memorable day in December 2002. We voted out Kanu thinking that we had finally corrected things only to end up worse off than we were before. Another election looms and the bad news is that whoever we elect will do exactly the same thing Mwai Kibaki and Narc have done to us.
So what is the solution?
The solution is to correct the root causes of the leadership problems we have in Kenya today. History may be boring but unless we go back and trace the place where the country went off the road and took a wrong turn, we shall keep on being disappointed.
As many observers who were there at the time and historians will testify, things really took a turn for the worst on July 5th 1969. On that day a leading Kenyan politician, Tom Mboya was assassinated. This man had almost single-handedly been the most effective factor in fighting for the independence of Kenya. Many times the colonialists wished him dead, because many had believed that they would own Kenya forever. But alas, he ended up being murdered by one of his own. His assassination opened the floodgates for the following evils which haunt us to this day;
1) Continued land grabbing in Kenya by politically powerful individuals at the expense of ordinary powerless Kenyans.
2) This land grabbing culture later spread to the grabbing of other national resources and use of high office to do personal and private business, because the land-grabbing could not continue forever, it reached a point where virtually everything was grabbed.
3) Anybody who dared oppose this ruling class as they went about amassing great wealth was brutally killed. Mboya’s assassination opened the flood gates for other more brutal killings of gallant sons of Kenya like JM Kariuki and Robert Ouko amongst others.
4) It helped reaffirm a culture in Kenya where people seek to get rich by winning political office.
5) It created a culture where people seek to protect their ill-gotten gains by gaining political power. You must have many Kenyan politicians saying; “I am seeking political office to protect my wealth.”
6) It created a culture of tribalism in politics where today we see political parties that are just tribal organizations where alliances have to be made between various tribes to win the all-powerful presidency.
On July 5th, it will be 36 years since that gallant son of Kenya was brutally gunned down in the Nairobi streets in broad daylight. Some of those who were responsible for his killing are still walking the streets happily going about their business, they are all very wealthy individuals.
Our initiative starts with a simple step. We the people of Kenya want the government to tell us who killed Tom Mboya and why. Many in government today know the answer to this question and Kenyans are politically mature enough to be told NOW, who killed Mboya and why?
To help us in this noble campaign you need to do only two things;
1) Write a letter to leading newspapers and media houses in Kenya demanding that the government tell us who ordered Mboya’s killing and why. A man was actually charged and convicted and presumably hanged for the assassination but he kept on insisting that there was a “big man” involved, somebody who had ordered the killing. Who was this big man? And why was it necessary to murder Mboya? (we have posted the email addresses and P.O. Box addresses of some leading media house at the blog;
http://kumekucha.blogspot.com
Visit and get the email addresses. You will also find a lot of information on who Tom Mboya was and why his murder caused a turning point for the worst for the great nation of Kenya.
2) Forward this message by email and post to at least 5 other Kenyans.
We shall continue with this campaign until we get an answer. We must begin to take hold of the destiny of our own country and the best place to start is by beginning to correct where we went wrong in the past. Even if you do no want to do this for your own sake, maybe because you have some comfortable job or business somewhere where you are earning good money. If this is the case, then my appeal is that you do it for the sake of your children and grand children who even if they inherit a fortune from you may not be able to enjoy it in their own motherland if the current situation persists.
Fellow Kenyan our country is t an hour of crisis. You can do something to help save the situation. Grab this moment in history, take action.
Warm regards,
Your fellow patriotic Kenyan.
The story of Mboya continues in the next few days.
Email addresses of leading media houses in Kenya. (please participate and play your noble part in this campaign by posting to this blog or sending via email to umissedthis@yahoo.com, other email addresses. E.G. for KBC, KTN etc.
Nation mailbox: mailbox@nation.co.ke
The cutting Edge- Nation: watchman@nation.co.ke
Monday, June 27, 2005
Do you want to be a part of the solution in Kenya?
KIndly pass the word around that something big is happening at this blog tomorrow. Kenya is relying on you, let not fail our beloved nation.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Tom Mboya was feared by the Kiambu mafia: The young popular politician who kept the old men guessing
It was within the trade unions that he developed his public speaking skills and confirmed his amazing organizational skills that were to serve him well in his political career later.
The state of emergency had been declared in 1952. It remained in 1957 long after the colonial administration had ruthlessly clamped down on the Mau Mau, basically a group that was fighting for the return of their land taken over by European settlers (and not independence as is widely claimed).
In fact by 1957 when elections were held that would see the first 8 Africans join Legco (the Legislative council or parliament of the time), members of the Gikuyu, Embu and Meru tribes were not allowed to take part in any political association unless they obtained a loyalty certificate. These were th communities that had been most active in mau mau and the fight for their ancestral land to be given back.
What is important here is not the way Mboya brilliantly beat an older, married and much more famous man in lawyer Arwings Khodhek, or the fact that most of the voters were from the Kikuyu tribe and still shunned their own Munyua Waiyaki, who was also in the race, for Mboya? It was mainly that the youngest politician was able to quickly send a telegraph to each of the other 7 African elected leaders as the results came in. Nairobi as always was announced first but the other territories took time.
The only two names of the other elected leaders in March 1957 that will make sense to most Kenyans today are those of Daniel Arap Moi and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga (Raila Odinga’s father).
In his congratulatory telegram, Mboya invited them to a meeting in Nairobi. This single act did more than anything else to bring independence to Kenya, for a simple reason. The 8 leaders were able to map out a strategy on their approach in the Legco that would see them reject the two 3,500 sterling pounds a year ministerial post offers. Thanks to Mboya and despite endless difficulties, the 8 remained united and speaking in one voice (at least most of the time)..
One of the first things that the newly elected African leaders asked for, was more representation in Legco, since Africans were the majority in the country anyway. They asked for another 15 elected members in Legco.
Right upto independence the “brains” behind the African leader’s strategy was Tom Mboya. In 1957, when Mboya was elected into Legco, he was only 27 years old. Imagine a youngster, not yet 30 leading the fight for independence?
Naturally some people did not take it kindly. In fact some people within the 8 African leaders in Legco were naturally very jealous of the “young man”. Mboya’s biographer David Goldsworthy paints a perfect picture of the situation then. He clearly points out in his book “Tom Mboya the man Kenya wanted to forget” that Mboya was young ambitious, brilliant and proud and yet the likes of Oginga Odinga who hailed from the same tribe was continuously being upstaged and outsmarted by the youngster. The older man felt that he deserved some respect from the youngster.
Coming out of the London constitutional conference of 1960, as Mboya made the cover of Time, it was clear in the eyes of many that this youngster (just 30 then) was the front runner to be the first President of Kenya. Jomo Kenyatta was still languishing in jail. This is what a leading British newspaper had to say about Mboya and Kenyatta at the time.
“As a thoroughly modern African, Mboya is often compared with Jomo Kenyatta. Even those who consider Kenyata guiltless of any connection with Mau mau have noted that he (Kenyatta) passionately defended some irrational beliefs of the kikuyu tribe. He justified female circumcision in his book, “Facing Mount Kenya”. But Mboya has no respect for any of the traditions of tribalism.”
Then Odinga struck. He issued a statement to the press saying that the African leaders wanted the release of Kenyatta before independence. Rather than having a love for Kenyatta, this statement was a political move targeted directly at Mboya. As an African leader representing cosmopolitan Nairobi, the majority of his votes came from the Kikuyu. Mboya knew that any statement that was vaguely not in sync with that of Odinga on Kenyatta would be political suicide for him.
So to cut a long story short, Kenya’s first president (and all other presidents after him to date) was a compromise candidate. Kenyatta was released from detention on 22 August 1961.
Still Mboya had everything going for him. He was a young, ambitious and brilliant politician who had almost single-handedly master-minded the non-violent fight for Uhuru. It appeared that time was on his side. But sadly fate had other ideas.
However in the 50s (the decade that tribalism was probably at its' lowest ebb ever in Kenya. Because Luos were getting elected to parliament in Nairobi by an enthusiastic Kikuyu electorate and Luo men were falling head over heels in love with Kikuyu women.)
I dug this out of the Kumekucha archives
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Read revealing Ruto article on this blog -----A celebrated boxing champion is among Kenyans who lost their lives during the anti-government protests on Wednesday 12th July 2023.
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Read; Has David Langat fallen out with close buddy William Ruto?
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Most leading analysts including Pro. Herman Manyora seem to agree that the government of William Ruto is on the losing end of the Maandamano duel with Azimio and Raila Odinga. It is as clear as day.
This is Uhuru's future from a man who has NEVER gotten it wrong (2013 prediction)
...Then in the midst of all these uncertainties an arrogant Briton came into the country for prayers and started making predictions and prophecies on the country's political future. Few Kenyans had ever heard of the London based preacher. But he spoke with such authority that some Kenyans even got annoyed.
Then he predicted Uhuru Kenyatta's future and I did not like it one bit.... This is Uhuru's future from a man who has NEVER gotten it wrong (2013 prediction)
Friday, June 17, 2005
TJ's amazing political career starts Monday
Sorry, but just check after 4 pm Monday (Kenyan time).
Thursday, June 16, 2005
How many Kenyans have made the cover of Time magazine?
How many Kenyans have made the cover of Time? Least of all in the 1960s. Time cover March 7th 1960. In the background a collapsing mud hut very similar to the one where Tom Mboya was born one evening August 15th 1930.
Actually there are very few Kenyans who have graced the cover of Time magazine. But it is even more amazing that a Kenyan managed this feat in 1960 (before independence). My point is that there must have been something very special about this man. Below I include the first few paragraphs of that Time story complete with the headline;
Ready or not
March 7th 1960
(See Cover) It was the biggest African political rally in Nairobi's history. Under the hot sun, 20,000 blacks packed into African Stadium, sang and chanted as they waited for the returning hero, just back from London. Then a mighty roar went up, and there came Tom Mboya on the shoulders of his excited supporters. Around his shoulders was a black skin cape. The sleepy eyes danced with pleasure, and a grin split the gleaming, satin-smooth black face. With a wave of his fly switch, Tom brought the throng to sudden silence. "My brothers," he cried, "today is a great day for Kenya....
Had that crowd gotten a glimpse of the Kenya of the future then, there is no doubt that the jubilation would have instantly turned into bitter mourning. But let us see what this son of an illiterate sisal picker did to deserve such attention.
Tom Mboya was born on April 15, 1930 in Kilimambogo on a Sisal Estate near Thika town in what was called the 'White Highlands' of Kenya . His father Leonardus Ndiege was a sisal cutter. His mother, Marcella Awour, named him Odhiambo, as most Luos born in the evening are named. He was baptized Thomas and was later called Joseph at his confirmation as a catholic. He was later to be better known as Tom Mboya.
Born and brought up very far from his Rusinga home and rather close to Nairobi, the question of ethnicity or tribe was always furthest from the mind of Mboya. Throughout his political career he got elected in Nairobi constituencies and received most of his votes from Kikuyus. It is sad that the issue of his tribe never really cropped up until after his death when the Luo community vented their anger in violence on the streets of Nairobi. But you can be sure that there were thousands of other Kenyans of different tribes and even races who felt the same. The truth is that Mboya never belonged to the Luo, he belonged to Kenya as Time magazine so aptly captioned the painting of him on their cover with the words, “Kenya’s Tom Mboya.
There are Kenyans who say that there was less tribalism before independence and it is politicians who have nurtured this monster over the years for their own survival. I tend to believe this view.
What drove him to trade unionism and politics?
Growing up on the sisal plantation, the young Mboya must have seen his father going about his work. Those who are familiar with sisal picking will know that quite often, it leaves the pickers bleeding from scratches and jabs from the thorny-edged leaves. It is possible that young Mboya often felt pity for his father. Is this what drove him into fighting for the rights of workers in Trade Unionism later on in life? Was this what gave him such empathy with the plight and feelings of ordinary Kenyan African workers?
Although Mboya was a mere mortal and was far from being perfect, even with his glaring faults, he is the best political son to come out of the womb of Kenya. Our prayer is that many others will follow in the years to come.
While we are on that subject of the man’s weaknesses let us mention one of the criticisms that forever haunted him. He was accused of being a CIA agent. This writer has found quite some evidence that seems to confirm this fact. We will however look at this more closely in future posts.
Tom was also a man of the ladies. A picture taken in the 50s shows him amongst members of a music dance group. He never knew how to play any musical instrument but he was an accomplished dancer and it is safe to guess that he did it all for the ladies. His biographer David Goldsworthy describes a number of other incidences in his detailed work.
Despite all this, no other Kenyan politician since Mboya has emerged as a leader with no tribal affiliation or base (shame on you Kenyan politicians). Mboya was a cosmoplitan politician brought up mostly amongst the Akamba people in the sisal farms of Kilimambogo and then at Kabaa catholic Mission School, voted in mostly by Kikuyus, fine-tuned his Swahili in Tanzania (he was a very close friend of the late founding father of the Tanzanian nation Mwalimu Julius Nyerere).
Tom Mboya, started school in 1939 at the Kabaa Catholic Mission School in what was then the Ukamba District of Kenya. In 1942 he joined a Catholic Secondary School in Yala, in Nyanza province. In 1946 he went to the Holy Ghost College, Mangu, where he passed well enough to proceed to do his Cambridge School Certificate. In 1948, Mboya joined the Royal Sanitary Institute's Medical Training School for Sanitary Inspectors at Nairobi , qualifying as an inspector in 1950.
Tomorrow we start looking at Mboya's fascinating political career.
Why Mboya Had To Stop A Bullet
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
What does stuff that happened in the 60s have to do with me TODAY?
For a long time now I have been grappling with the problem of how best to present Kenyan news and features on this blog, with the objectives I had from the beginning still very clear on my mind.
I am happy to report today that this matter has been settled. To me it is now as clear as day and summarized in the following simple statement.
To face the future successfully, it is extremely important to understand the past first.
In Kenya our history has never been told truthfully, or rather it has often been carefully crafted and censored to avoid the wrath of the powers that be.
Now what happens when the “censored” part is the actual story? The answer is what we have in our country today, near chaos and hopelessness.
Kenyans everywhere do not accept to be cheated ever again, by those who know more than you or understand more. Let us face the truth and only then will we be able to begin to face the ghosts of the past that keep on bogging us down.
In the next few days, we will focus on two political assassinations in Kenya that still impact the country today. And in the days after that, all stories on this site will be carried in the backdrop of those assassinations. You will be amazed at how clear everything suddenly becomes. Stay with me.
Political assasinations in Kenya “TJ”
Tom Mboya at his prime. Cut down by an assasins bullets on the streets of Nairobi one Saturday afternoon, July 5, 1969
Today we start this much anticipated new feature that will lay bare the history of our beloved country of Kenya. For too long ago, the history we have read and accepted as the truth in schools has been a lie. Carefully crafted lies to please the powers that be. One of the reasons why we are in such serious problems in Kenya today is the fact that our founding fathers lost the way. Somewhere in their journey they abandoned the interests of the country for their own. This will come out very clearly in this series. Stay with us.
The single political assassination in Kenya that had the greatest impact is that of “TJ” or Tom Mboya. “TJ” were his first two initials standing for Thomas Joseph. The son of a poor illiterate sisal picker in a colonial farm somewhere near Thika, Tom Mboya rose to the top of Kenyan politics and was in line to be the first president of Kenya. Had he ascended to the Presidency, many political analysts are sure, things would have been very different and we would probably have avoided many of the mistakes that were made.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me get on with the story. I want to start my story from the end and then flash back. I believe that this is the best way of telling it.
5th July 1969. Kenya had recently celebrated its’ sixth anniversary of internal self rule (Madaraka day) the previous month on June 1st. Kenyans were optimistic in those years and were working hard to build their young nation and ensure a better future for their children. Little did they know that there were serious problems and infighting amongst their key rulers which was about to explode on the streets this sunny afternoon.
It was a Saturday like any other in the city centre in Nairobi. Nairobi in those days was a neat nice place to be proud of and the overcrowded bustling streets were yet to come. It was lunch time and Kenyans were going about their business unaware of the fact that the history of their country was about to be irreversibly changed in a very dramatic and bloody way.
Minister of Economic Planning and MP for a Nairobi constituency Tom Mboya left his office for the weekend. He released his driver and body guard and headed for Chaani’s chemist along Government Street (Moi Avenue today). This chemist is still there today. He was driving his white Mercedes.
If he was carrying the day’s newspapers (like he liked to do) he would have had a copy of the East African Standard with him. On this broadsheet there was a photograph of him on page 1. It showed him striding confidently along the runway at Embakasi International airport where he had landed from Ethiopia Addis Ababa. He had been there for official business.
As he parked the car, he would not have noticed a short bald man with a brief case walking slowly towards the chemist where the cabinet minister was about to enter. He bought his usual prescription medicine for a nagging skin ailment and had a hearty chat with the Asian couple who owned the chemist. He had known them for years.
Outside the bald man in a brief case waited.
Mboya stepped outside the chemist and there were two extremely loud bangs of a revolver going off. Tom Mboya fell back on the glass door of the chemist. Blood oozing out of his fatal wounds in the chest and head.
He was rushed to Nairobi hospital in an ambulance but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. By about 3pm that afternoon the remains of Tom Mboya were in the City Mortuary along Ngong Road.
The country was in shock. Who had killed Mboya and why? A state funeral was quickly organized even as violence broke out on the streets of Nairobi, President Jomo Kenyatta personally issued a statement oin radio and TV saying the usual things. No stone would be left unturned to bring Mboya’s killers to book and the other usual **** about the dead man being a fallen hero and all. He lied to the whole nation when he knew very well exactly who was responsible for Mboya’s brutal killing and more important why he had been murdered. Or rather the personal cause for which he had had to lose his life.
Ironically probably the only man of Kikuyu descent who was allowed to set foot on Rusinga Island to attend the Mboya funeral the following weekend was another Kenyan by the name of Josiah Mwangi Kariuki or JM Kariuki. He had been Kenyatta’s private secretary before he fell out with the old man. He did not know it but barely six years later he would also be assassinated, for the same cause that his good friend Tom Mboya had just died for. His murder would be much more painful and he would have his private parts cut out (it is widely believed that this was done while he was still alive). His body would be found badly burnt by acid and with his private parts stuffed into his mouth. A clear message that he was silenced for something he said (stay with us in this blog and we will get back to that later).
So Mboya rested with his ancestors on Rusinga Island. Death had come too early, he was not yet even 40. But what a brilliant political career he had had in his very short life. In fact he had almost become the first President and founding father of Kenya. Almost... Sadly “almost’ is never good enough and that is why this man is basically forgotten. Younger generations of Kenya do not know who the hell he was. They just know he got shot in the streets.
All this was of course deliberate and that is why the only full biography ever written on Mboya by a man who never met him a professor from University In Australia is titled, “Tom Mboya - the man Kenya wanted to forget.” David Goldsworthy’s book was published after President Kenyatta’s death in the 80’s.
The Kenya of that time or rather the leaders of the time were determined that Kenya should forget TJ as quickly as possible. Two new presidents have come since that beastly incident - Moi came and went and now Kibaki is president. Both these two Kenyans know the truth that you will discover in this blog over the next few days. But they’ve done nothing. Why?
And you Kenyan reading this, what are you going to do about this thing that helped drive your beloved country to the dogs? Think about that very deeply.
This is for you TJ, I never met you but from all that I’ve watched and read and studied on you, it is like I did. This is for you and a better Kenya, which you would have liked.
Mboya On Cover Of Time? Was Jealousy Main Motive Of His Murder?
Why Mboya Had To Stop A Bullet