MBOYA, TOM (KENYA)

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06891164
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: March 9, 2023
• Document Release Date: May 11, 2021
• Case Number: F-2021-00126
• Publication Date: May 12, 1965

Approved for Release: 2021/05/11 C06891164
KENYA Tom MBOYA
Minister of Economic Planning and Development
Bright, capable and ambitious, Tom Mboya was
named Minister of Economic Planning and Develop-
ment on 10 December 1964. The post is important,
and loaded with difficulties as well as potential,
but it probably represents something less than �
Mboya wanted. For the moment, he evidently re-
mains outside the inner power structure of the
Kenyan government.
Shortly after taking over his post Mboya be-
gan drafting a paper defining African Socialism.
This document was released in late April 1965 by
President Jomo Kenyatta, who said it would become
the "bible" of Kenya and would guide national po-
licy. Among other things, the paper recommends progressive taxes to ensure
equitable distribution of wealth and income, a diffusion of ownership to
avoid a concentration of economic power, a range of controls to ensure that
property is used in the interests of society, various forms of ownership
(ranging from private to state); political democracy, and mutual social re-
sponsibility. The paper was well received in the Western press. Within the
last several months Mboya has stated that Kenya could no longer tolerate the
virtual monopoly of the economic and social life by non-Africans. He has
particularly assailed those Asians who have not adjusted to the new 'life of
Kenya, cautioning them against displaying arrogance toward Africans.-
PEfiCF 9F
cEN.T11.4 RFERENC?
R.PqR4IMIc
REPAFR
It is not surprising that
he has become the symbol of Western influence to some Africans. He has ad-
vocated a non-aligned foreign policy for Kenya and admission of Communist
,China to the UN. As Minister of Economic Planning and Development, he has
indicated that his government is willing to trade with and receive aid with-
out strings from any country. He has also affirmed that Marxist doctrine
has no place in African Socialism.
Born of Luo parents on 15 August 1930 on Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria,
Mboya was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church with the name Thomas
Joseph Adhiambo. He was educated at Kabaa mission, St. Mary's and at Holy
Ghost College (a secondary school), withdrawing from the last when his fa-
ther could no longer afford to help with the tuition. Shortly afterward
Mboya was accepted for training as a sanitary inspector and three years
later he took the Royal Sanitary Institute Certificate. He was appointed a
sanitary inspector in Nairobi where he served for the next two and one-
half years.
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Tom MBOYA (Cont.)
About 1951 Mboya became president of the African Staff Association and
built it into the Kenya Local Government Worker's Union, becoming its na-
tional general secretary. By 1953 he had become secretary general of the
Kenya Federation of Labor (KFL)--a post which he held for the next 10 years
and which served as the foundation for his future political successes. He
first became generally known in 1955, when he served as mediator in a Mom-
basa strike and won a large pay raise for the dockers. The next year he
obtained a scholarship to Ruskin College, Oxford, and visited the US and
other countries. In the course of his travels he made a number of rontartR
in the ICFTU
During these years Nboya's political star began its rise. In 1953 he (b)(1)
was treasurer of the Kenya African Union just before it was proscribed for (b)(3)
its alleged connection with the Mau Mau. In March 1957 he won the Nairobi
seat in the first African constituency elections. He proceeded to bind the
eight African elected members into a solid group strongly opposed to the
Lyttleton constitution, under which they had been elected, and to demand
that the British government recognize that Kenya is an African country and
should be advanced gradually to independence. His tactics were largely re-
sponsible for the breakdown of the constitution and for the subsequent im-
position of the Lennox-Boyd constitution on the Kenyan government, which
gave the Africans six more elected members. Mboya became president of the
Nairobi People's Convention Party about 1957. Two years later,ifter dis-
agreeing with the Constituency Elected Members Organization on land policy,
he helped to form the Kenya Independence Movement.
In April 1960 Mboya became general secretary of the newly formed Kenya
African National Union (KANU)--a post he still holds. The following year
he was re-elected to Parliament by an overwhelming majority. In April 1962
he was named Minister of Labor. During the ensuing year he was credited with
Kenya's successes in constitutional talks with the UK and was rewarded with
the portfolios for Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the first all-KANU
Cabinet in June 1963. In this post he performed brilliantly in preparing
, the Republican constitution and in seeing it through Parliament.
Mboya, in fact, generally performs extremely well. He is by far the
ablest of Kenya's political figures and nobody appears to be his equal in
ideas, initiative and driving force. Tough, determined and resourceful, as
well as clever and shrewd, he generally has his emotions well under control.
He can adapt his words to the audience and his actions to the situation. He
argues logically, and with great ability, and has a flair for nublicitv.
Mboya has held positions in several international organizations,
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Tom MBOYA (cont.)
including the African Trade Union Confederation, the All-African Trade Union
Federation, the ICFTU, the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central
and Southern Africa, the All-African Peoples Conference and the UN Economic
Commission for Africa; he was elected chairman of the last at a conference
held in Nairobi in February 1964. He has traveled widely and has been to
the US several times. In August 1964 he reportedly became the first African
leader to visit Australia, where he criticized its policy of impeding non-
white immigration.
Personable and articulate, Mboya is a superb orator in both English
and Swahili, and usually speaks extemporaneously.
In-105.91he:was_
awarded an honorary-degree OT ffocror of- Laws by Howard Tfaver-Sit-yr. In 1963
he published a book entitled Freedom and After. Mboya, who has had two un-
successful marriages outside the church, was married in a Catholic ceremony
in January 1962 to Pamela Odede
FA:rlh 12 May 1965
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S-E-C-R-E-T
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