Man Charged With Mboya Murder

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32050, 26 July 1969, Page 20

Man Charged With Mboya Murder

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) NAIROBI, July 24. Police have arrested and charged a man with the murder of Mr Tom Mboya, Kenya’s Minister for Economic Planning, who was assassinated in Nairobi 19 rays ago.

The accused, Nahashon Isaac Njenga Njoroge, is a member of Kenya’s majority Kikuyu tribal grouping. He was hustled into court yesterday afternoon and remanded in custody after proceedings lasting less than five minutes.

He is expected to appear before the court again on August 5.

The arrest of the Kikuyu for the murder appears likely to inflame tribal passions, and could lead to more incidents throughout Kenya, observers said.

A police spokesman said every precaution was being taken to ensure that Njoroge was not molested in gaol while awaiting trial. There

would be heavy security for his court appearances. Mr Mboya, one of Kenya’s most powerful politicians, was often tipped as a possible successor to President Jomo Kenyatta. He died on his way to hospital on July 5 after he had been shot in the chest as he stepped outside a pharmacy.

After his death, fellow Luo tribesmen, who believed that the killing was part of a political plot to prevent nonKikuyus filling important positions in the Government, rioted in Nairobi and along the funeral procession route to Mr Mboya's burial place on Rusinga Island, in Lake Victoria, 260 miles north-west of Nairobi.