DCI to probe Tom Mboya's assassination claims in Daily Nation article

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) says it has kicked off the latest probe into the July 5, 1969, killing of former Labour minister, Tom Mboya.

DCI's investigation was triggered by a newspaper article that carried the story of a man who confessed to having purchased the weapon that claimed the late politician's life along Moi Avenue (then Government Road).

Mboya, who then served as Economic Planning and National Development Minister, had left Chani's Pharmacy when he was shot by one Nahashon Isaac Njenga, who quickly vanished into the streets, leaving him to breathe his last.

For years, Njenga, who was condemned for the July 5, 1969, assassination, has been the only direct link to the murder, which is still attracting nationwide attention and creating a political storm years later.

"The attention of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has been drawn to an article in the Saturday Nation dated July 6, 2024. The article reports that a 92-year-old man purchased the pistol that was used in the killing of Tom Mboya, a trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, former minister, and statesman. The DCI has initiated an investigation, and necessary action will be taken once the investigation is complete," the DCI said in a post on X on Monday morning.

The article published in the Saturday Nation on July 6 this year revealed that more than one individual was hired as a hitman in the planned Mboya assassination.

Tom Mboya was rushed to Nairobi Hospital in an ambulance after being shot on July 5, 1969, but did not survive. (Photo: Courtesy)

This is after 92-year-old Ndwiga Muruathika from Embu confessed that he, Nahashon, and another man were approached for the job.

The three, according to the article, waylaid the late minister outside Chani Pharmacy when Nahashon pulled the trigger, releasing the bullet that hit Mboya in the chest, ending his young and illustrious life and career in a move that altered the course of Kenyan politics.

Mboya had notified the pharmacy that he would be stopping by to fetch his prescriptions, prompting speculation that the call may have been tapped by the defunct, controversial Special Branch, a group of spies under the Criminal Investigations Division (CID), which was renamed DCI.

"As he walked out of the chemist, two shots rang out. Kenya's first Cabinet Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs died at the age of 39, barely a month to his 40th birthday," the article wrote.

At the time, he had left his bodyguards behind.

After the shooting, Mboya was rushed to Nairobi Hospital in an ambulance, but he did not survive as he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Njenga was almost immediately identified as the main suspect, prosecuted in court, and sentenced to hanging.

Mboya was later buried on July 11, 1969, in Homabay, where a mausoleum has been set up in his honour.