Before his assassination in Nairobi on July, 5, 1969, Tom Mboya made many friends and maybe a few enemies, but he acquired admirers as well.
One of such was William Scheinman, an American national whose love for the trade unionist went overboard, and vowed to stick close to him even after death.
49 years after his death in the hands of Nahashon Njenga, a hitman who admitted having been sent to finish the brilliant leader, the two are still together.
Right next to Mboya's mausoleum at Lwanda Kamasengre village on Rusinga Island, Homa Bay county, is the grave of Sheinman who died of kidney failure in 1999.
The former Investor who traded in plane parts had placed a wish to be buried anywhere the independence icon was laid to rest.
He had great love for Mboya and was termed as an 'enthusiast supporter of independence movements in Africa' in an obituary in the New York Times.
A month after his departure, the family transported his ashes and buried it next to where he had instructed.
Speaking to Daily Nation, Paul Ndiege, Mboya's brother and the mausoleum keeper, noted that Scheinman was a close friend of Mboya adding that he would visit the place yearly until his death.
"He was a great friend to the Mboyas, he even requested the family and the country to respect his will that if he died he be buried next to Mboya's grave.
“He loved the Mboya family with all his heart. He was like family because his friendship with Mboya was deep,” said Mr Ndiege as quoted by Nation.
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