Thomas joseph mboya biography definition

The Kenyan political leader Thomas Joseph Mboya (1930-1969) was one of the principal leaders ofKenya's independence movement. His tragic death undoubtedly prevented him from fulfilling a career as one of the great East Africans of the 20th century.

Tom Mboya was born about Aug. 15, 1930, at Kilima Mbogu, near Nairobi, where his father, a Luo tribesman from Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria, was employed on a European sisal estate. Since his parents were Roman Catholics, he attended a series of mission schools, completing this phase of education at Holy Ghost College, a secondary school located near his birthplace. Mboya then left school so that the family's limited funds could be used to educate his siblings. He next enrolled in a program of the Kenya Medical Department for training as a sanitary inspector (1948-1950).

Here Mboya's first political inclinations became apparent when he was elected president of the student council. On successfully completing the course he accepted employment in Nairobi (1951-1953), devoting his abundant energies to union work. He helped to found the Kenya Local Government Workers Union, comprising employees of the Nairobi City Council, and became its general secretary (1953-1957).

Mboya's increasing involvement in union affairs led to difficulties with his employers, and he soon resigned his position as sanitary inspector to participate fully in union work; by 1954 he had developed his organization into one of Africa's most successful unions. The European-dominated society of Kenya had been struck by the Mau Mau resistance movement in 1952, and Mboya, already much impressed by the leadership qualities of Jomo Kenyatta, whom the British had sent into detention, gradually moved into politics. He was one of the few African leaders not to be detained during the years of the Mau Mau.

Mboya joined Kenyatta's party, the Kenya Africa Union, and served as its acting treasurer until the organization was banned by

ThomasJoseph Odhiambo(Tom)Mboya

Son of Leonardus Ndiege and Marcella (Awour) Ndiege

Brother of Alphonse Okuku and Pascal Odira Ndiege

Husband of [private wife (1930s - unknown)]

Father of Rosemary Alakie Mboya, Patrick Mboya and Peter Mboya

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Biography

Tom Mboya was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya. He led the negotiations for independence at the Lancaster House Conferences and was instrumental in the formation of Kenya's independence party – the Kenya African National Union (KANU) – where he served as its first Secretary-General.

Thomas was born in Kenya's White Highlands on 15 Aug 1930. He was baptized Thomas, and given the traditional name Odhiambo signifying he was born in the evening, and the second clan name of Mboya. He was the eldest child, with three younger brothers and two sisters.

Tom was the son of Leonardus Ndiege and Marcella Awuor, ethnic Luo of Kenya. They were sisal farmers, a type of farming which specialize in drought tolerant crops. His parents converted to Catholicism shortly before his birth, and he attended local mission schools for his early education. He chose to further his education at the Royal Sanitary Institute's medical school, where he became interested in labor organization as well as the debate club. He graduated in 1951, and was given sanitary inspection duties in Nairobi.

Two years later, he resigned from his position and became actively involved with the Kenyan Local Government Workers' Union. (KLGWU).

The British Labor Party provided him a scholarship to Oxford University, to study industrial management from 1955-56. Upon completion of his studies, he returned to Kenya and formed the Nai

Tom Mboya, born on August 15, 1930 in Kilimambogo, Kenya on a sisal plantation estate, was a Kenyan nationalist, trade union leader, and government minister. His parents were Luo agricultural workers who, as recently converted Catholics, sent him to mission schools from an early age. By 1947, Mboya was en route to graduation, but because of his father’s modest income he couldn’t afford to complete the final pre-examination course. He decided instead to attend the Royal Sanitary Institute’s medical school which paid for his training and allowed him to support his younger brother’s studies. Mboya began his involvement in labor organizing at the school, where he also became president of the student council and participated in the debating club.

Upon graduating in 1951, Mboya was given sanitary inspection duties in Nairobi

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. Around the same time, the anticolonial Mau Mau rebellion was erupting and much of Kenya’s trade union and political leadership were detained by British authorities. Mboya resigned from his inspector position in 1953 and began a series of full-time commitments to the growing union movement.

The Kenya Local Government Workers’ Union (KLGWU), which he founded in 1952, expanded membership from 450 to 1,300 within eight months. A year later, Mboya was made secretary-general of the Kenya Federation of Labor (KFL), an organization that had just unified five of Kenya’s major industrial unions. After the Kenya African Union (KAU) was banned, Mboya and the KFL became the major voice for Africans in the colony. Under his leadership, the KFL organized demonstrations against the mass evacuations, detentions, and secret trials of Mau Mau rebels and their supporters by the colonial government.

Mboya’s effective campaigning caught the eye of the British Labour Party which provided him a scholarship to study industrial management at Oxford University between 1955 and 1956. There he was int

Kenyan politician and independence activist (1930–1969)

Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15 August 1930 – 5 July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya. He led the negotiations for independence at the Lancaster House Conferences and was instrumental in the formation of Kenya's independence party – the Kenya African National Union (KANU) – where he served as its first Secretary-General. He laid the foundation for Kenya's capitalist and mixed economy policies at the height of the Cold War and set up several of the country's key labour institutions. Mboya was Minister for Economic Planning and Development when he was assassinated.

Mboya's intelligence, charm, leadership, and oratory skills won him admiration from all over the world. He gave speeches, participated in debates and interviews across the world in favour of Kenya's independence from British colonial rule. He also spoke at several rallies in the goodwill of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. In 1958, at the age of 28, Mboya was elected Conference Chairman at the All-African Peoples' Conference convened by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. He helped build the Trade Union Movement in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as across Africa. He also served as the Africa Representative to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). In 1959, Mboya called a conference in Lagos, Nigeria, to form the first All-Africa ICFTU labour organization.

Mboya worked with both John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. to create educational opportunities for African students, an effort that resulted in the Kennedy Airlifts of the 1960s enabling East African students to study in American colleges. Notable beneficiaries of this airlift inclu