Thomas Joseph Odhiambo "Tom" Mboya was a Kenyan trade unionist, educationist, Pan Africanist, author, independence activist, Cabinet Minister and one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya. He spearheaded the negotiations for Independence at the Lancaster House Conferences and was instrumental in the formation of Kenya's independence party, KANU, which he served as its first Secretary General.
Background
Tom Mboya was born on April 15, 1930 in Kilimanbogo on a Sisal Estate near Thika town in what was called the 'White Highlands' of Kenya . His parents were members of the Luo tribe (the second largest tribe at that time) in Kenya Colony. His father Leonardus Ndiege was a sisal cutter. His mother, Marcella Awour, named him Odhiambo, a Luo name signifying birth in the evening. He was baptised Thomas and was later called Joseph at his confirmation as a catholic. He was later to be better known as Tom Mboya.
Education
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.
Thereafter, the British Labour Party arranged for a year's scholarship (1955--56) to Oxford University, studying industrial management at Ruskin College
Mboya's political life started immediately after he was employed at Nairobi City Council as a sanitary inspector in 1950. A year after joining African Staff Association, he was elected its president and immediately embarked at molding the association into a trade union named the Kenya Local Government Workers' Union. This made his employer suspicious, but before they could sack him, he resigned. However, he was able to continue working for the Kenya Labour Workers Union as secretary-general before embarking on his studies in Britain. Upon returning from Britain, he contested and won a seat against incumbent C.M.G. Argwings-Kodhek. In 1957, he became dissatisfied with the low number of African leaders (only eight out of fifty at the time) in the Legislative council and decided to form his own party, the People's Congress Party.
At that time, Mboya developed a close relationship with Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana who, like Mboya, was a Pan-Africanist. In 1958, during the All-African Peoples' Conference in Ghana, convened by Kwame Nkurumah, Mboya was elected as the Conference Chairman at the age of 28.
In 1959, together with the African-American Students Foundation in the United States, Mboya organized the Airlift Africa project, through which 81 Kenyan students were flown to the U.S. to study at U.S. universities. Barack Obama's father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a friend of Mboya's and a fellow Luo; he received a scholarship through the AASF and occasional grants for books and expenses, although he was not on the first airlift plane in 1959, since he was headed for Hawaii, not the continental U.S.. In 1960, the Kennedy Foundation agreed to underwrite the airlift, after Mboya visited Senator Jack Kennedy to ask for assistance, and Airlift Africa was extended to Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar (now Tanzania), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Nyasaland (now Malawi). Some 230 African students received scholarships to study at Class I accredited colleges in the United States in 1960, and hundreds more in 1961–63.
In 1960, Mboya's People's Congress Party joined with Kenya African Union and Kenya Independence Movement to form the Kenya African National Union (KANU) in an attempt to form a party that would both transcend tribal politics and prepare for participation in the Lancaster House Conference (held at Lancaster House in London) where Kenya's constitutional framework and independence were to be negotiated. As Secretary General of KANU, Mboya headed the Kenyan delegation.
After Kenya's independence on 1 June 1963, Mboya was elected as an MP for Nairobi Central Constituency (today: Kamukunji Constituency) and became Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, and later Minister for Economic Planning and Development. In this role, he wrote the important "Sessional Paper 10" on Harambee and the Principles of African Socialism (adopted by Parliament in 1964), which provided a model of government based on African values.
The Challenge of Nationhood: A Collection of Speeches and Writings
(A collection of speeches and writings by Tom Mboya, a you...)
Freedom and after
1963
Religion
As for religion, Mboya in private not only attended mass, but prayed regularly; and once again, he was well aware of the functionality of faith in African life. Essentially, what he asked from Christians was that it be prepared to mould itself to Africa rather than expect the reverse.
Politics
Tom Mboya had a great political views. Mboya started his trade union activities when he was employed by the Nairobi City Council as a sanitary inspector in 1951. He was elected the chairman of the African Staff Association which he transformed into a trade union, The Kenya Local Government Workers Union. The colonial government refused to recognize the union and Mboya sued for recognition and won. In 1953, when the independence party, Kenya African Union (KAU) leaders including Jomo Kenyatta were arrested during the Mau Mau War for Independence, they requested the young leader to take Mboya to take up leadership of KAU. However, KAU was banned and Mboya turned to using the trade unions as a platform to fight for independence as well. This led the colonial government to almost ban the Kenya Federation of Labour (KFL), the then umbrella body for trade unions in Kenya (where he had been elected Secretary General) after he gave speeches in London and Washington against British atrocities in Kenya and he organized several strikes seeking better working conditions for African workers. He reached out to other labour leaders across the world, more so in the ICFTU, including A. Philip Randolph with whom he was close, and raised funds to build a headquarters for the KFL.
In Independent Kenya, Mboya was first Cabinet Minister for Labour. He created the National Social Security Fund, Kenya’ social security scheme and set up an Industrial Court. He was later moved to the Economic Planning Ministry where together with Mwai Kibaki then Finance Minister, they issued Sessional Paper 10, which defined Kenya’s form of economic policies. His development plans at the Ministry were credited as being responsible for Kenya's development rate of 7% which was sustained during his tenure as the Planning Minister.
Views
Quotations:
"We will never, never sell our freedom for capital or technical aid. We stand for freedom at any cost."
"I have news for you, there is no Superman (it’s up to us.)"
Personality
He was a man that never gave up to challenges. He is described as a charismatic Pan-Africanist, freedom fighter and the greatest president Kenya never had.
Physical Characteristics:
He was of the Black race, and had an oval-shaped face.
Quotes from others about the person
Goldsworthy: "For (his audiences at the Makadara hall) Mboya represented hope. Here was a leader who could stand up to the Europeans and take them at their own games... a man who cared about the common people and understood their grievances."
Mr Baring: "He sees himself as the Kenyan Nkrumah and is only just 27."
David Goldsworthy: "He is completely indoctrinated man"
Connections
He was married, and had five children
Father:
Leonardus Ndiege
Mother:
Marcella Awour
Spouse:
Pamela Mboya
Daughter:
Susan Mboya
other offspring:
Maureen Odero, Luke Mboya, Peter Mboya, Patrick Mboya
Friend:
Kwame Nkrumah
References
Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted to Forget
This book is a must read by all Kenyans, particularly those born after 1963. No nationalist, dynamic, intelligent and patriotic leader who can be compared to the late Thomas Joseph Mboya anywhere in Eastern Africa today. He did so much for Kenya during his short life on the earth. From Trade Unions to fighting for Kenya's Independence from the British Colonial Rule. The assassin's bullet ended his life at 39 years of age, but ordinary Kenyans will not FORGET him!
1982
Tom Mboya: Young man of new Africa
Copyright 1962. This is an objective portrait of Tom Mboy, Secretary of the Kenya Federation of Labour. This underprivileged African who was never a to pupil in his class, this average sanitation inspector of 1951 became the country's leading labor unionist.