TODAY IN HISTORY:TOM MBOYA ASSASINATED ON GOVERNMENT ROAD (NOW MOI AVENUE) ON THIS DAY 1969

Today marks exactly 55 years since the day then Minister for Economic Planning and Development Tom Mboya was assassinated. Mboya, 39, was gunned down on July 5, 1969, at Government Road (now Moi Avenue), just as he left Chaani's Pharmacy.
His killer would later be identified as Nahashon Isaac Njenga, quickly vanished amidst the confusion, leaving Mboya bleeding profusely from his chest. Prison officials announced in December that year that the convicted assassin was secretly hanged. Officials refused to disclose the date or details of the execution.
Ironically, the slain minister had several years back assisted his killer proceed in military training in Bulgaria as part of the post-independence youth overseas training airlifts. Back to events following the shooting, the assassin’s bullet had pierced Mboya's chest, soaking his suede jacket with blood.
He lay unconscious as first responders rushed him to Nairobi Hospital in an ambulance in what would be a futile effort to save his life. Renowned Kenyan photojournalist Mohamed Amin captured the events as they unfolded on video, including frantic efforts by doctors to resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
News of Mboya's assassination spread like wildfire prompting riots in the city as Kenyans flocked to the Nairobi Hospital en masse amid wails and cries. Baton-wielding police officers had to be called in to control the crowds who as seen in the Amin video were overwhelmed and overpowered.
More drama followed a week later during Mboya's requiem mass at the Holy Family Cathedral on April 12 when angry protestors clashed with the police yet again. Founding President Jomo Kenyatta's motorcade was blocked from accessing the church compound as mourners used anything they could lay their hands on to pelt his bulletproof Mercedes.
Tom Mboya's body was ferried whereby an estimated 100,000 mourners received the cortege on arrival amid a fresh episode of the stoning of vehicles perceived to have been carrying government officials, including Mzee Kenyatta.
From Homa Bay, the body was ferried by boat to Rusinga Island where it was interred on April 13, 1969. A multi-million shilling mausoleum was erected two years later in a lower corner of the compound where Mboya's remains lie to this day.