Ndwiga Kathamba reveals that he was among three young members of Kanu who were paid by an unnamed individual, under a strict oath of secrecy, to carry out the assassination of former Minister of Economic Planning and National Development, Tom Mboya, until the day he was shot in downtown Nairobi on Saturday, July 5, 1969.
Mboya was killed as he was leaving a pharmacy on Moi Avenue, near the National Archives building.
Despite his advanced age, Ndwiga shares this revelation cautiously. He insists that he is still bound by the oath of secrecy taken many decades ago and cannot disclose much.
However, he also expresses a desire not to take certain dark secrets to the grave after 55 years of silence.
Ndwiga claims that he and his two accomplices (young Kanu members at the time), were part of a plot to assassinate Mboya six months earlier, in January 1969.
The other two were Nahashon Njenga from what was then Kiambu District and Gitonga Gathanju from Nyeri.
He says they were part of a group sent to Bulgaria for military training, where they met Mboya, who held the position of Kanu Secretary General.
Ndwiga alleges that the plan to assassinate Mboya was conceived by a group of influential government officials from Kiambu.
However, he refuses to disclose the names of those who planned the assassination plot, citing the secrecy that prevailed during that time when Kenya had just gained independence from colonial rule.
"In those days, many things were conducted in secret, and after taking an oath," Ndwiga says.
He claims that once the plan to assassinate Mboya was finalized, he was given money to buy three pistols from an illegal market near the Kenya-Somalia border.
Ndwiga says his task was to identify the guns, pay for them, and then secretly return to Nairobi. Another person was supposed to transport the guns to Nairobi.
Later, the three of them received the pistols. Ndwiga does not reveal the name of the person who planned and financed the purchase and transportation of the guns to Nairobi.
But he explains that the pistols were bought from outside the country to avoid the possibility of being traced back to the government during investigations.
"When you hear things like this, it's a long plan. It's not something one person plans; it's like a revolution. It cannot be planned by one person," Ndwiga says.
On the day of the incident, Ndwiga claims his conscience urged him not to betray Mboya. He pondered how to withdraw from the assassination plans.
The elderly man says he decided to lag behind his two companions as they headed towards Moi Avenue where Mboya visited a pharmacy. Ndwiga claims he slipped into a passenger vehicle and headed home to Embu.
When asked why he withdrew despite his involvement in the plans, he said his conscience told him not to trust his two companions because he hailed from a different community, the Embu, while his companions were from the Kikuyu community.
Here is the link
https://taifaleo.nation.co.ke/jinsi-tulivyolipwa-kumuua-aliyekuwa-waziri-tom-mboya/