When was tom mboya assassinated

He was assassinated in Subjects: Social sciences — Regional and Area Studies. View all related items in Oxford Reference ».

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Oxford Reference. Publications Pages Publications Pages. The police were thus puzzled as to why a man that Mboya trusted turned into his killer. Sixteen days later, as violent protests rocked Nairobi and Kisumu, Njenga was charged with the murder. Watch Njenga being brought in for his trial below:.

Prior to embarking on his alleged mission, Njenga is said to have spent part of the day at a bar in Ngara. And, after seeing him, he would shoot him," reads an excerpt from her police statement.

Njenga never denied being in possession of the killer weapon, which he claimed to have been keeping for a longtime friend who was with him at the Bulgaria military school.

The charismatic Minister's murder remains under the unsolved mysteries category, as the motive behind the assassination was never revealed. But in another sense, even if it wins this battle, the government has already lost the war. Despite the campaign of intimidation and the sham election that followed and reinstalled him, the people had seen what the constitution they had fought for made possible and would not unsee it.

It is unlikely, for example, that the constitutional court in Malawi would have last year similarly annulled the re-election of President Peter Mutharika. However, it is heartening that common Kenyans still take time to remember and rare is the Saba Saba Day when the state is not forced to reprise its role of the oppressor by sending police to use tear gas and brutalise peaceful protesters just as it did 31 years ago. At this time, when the state threatens a return to the dark days of unbridled dictatorship, it is important that Kenyans keep reminding themselves that freedom is always the product of struggle, a large part of which is the struggle to preserve memory.

Patrick Gathara. Communications consultant, writer, and award-winning political cartoonist based in Nairobi. Published On 16 Jul