Assassination and Political Unity: Kenya

The July assassination of Tom Mboya was called in Europe the prelude to another African tragedy similar to Biafra. Western-style gangsterism seemed all too apparent, particularly just after the young Luo politician was shot down on a busy Nairobi street. Violence erupted at the hospital where Mboya\u27s body was taken, and subsequently in other parts of the country. Four days later, when Kenya\u27s President Mzee (Old Man) Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, arrived to attend the requiem mass, angry crowds of Luo tribesmen stoned the president\u27s car and shouted Dume (bull), the symbol of Kenya\u27s Luo-dominated opposition party, the Kenya People\u27s Union (K.P.U.). In the subsequent mêlée with police, two died, sixty were injured, and three hundred arrested