It appears that the late Tom Mboya was among the politicians colonialists considered a threat during the push for independence from the British.
This was clearly manifested when he was subjected to a serious searching and frisking when he returned from the US in June 1959.
Though he had went abroad to receive a honorary degree, the fact that he had stopped over in Tunisia gave the already desperate colonialists a real scare.
In Tunisia, he met fellow African leaders under the All African People's Conference, which made the colonialists uneasy that he might bring with him ideas disadvantageous to their rule.
This came at a time when the British were so uneasy about the growing push for independence that they were never comfortable whenever African leaders gathered together.
Consequently, Mboya, then only 28, was met by a group of colonial police at the airport, who embarked on a job of searching him for two and a half hours.
They searched him and his luggage before leaving with several documents for scrutiny, with Mboya later coming out to term himself clean.
“They have searched my home many times, but I do not keep embarrassing things there," he said, at a time when similar searches in Kenyans' homes had became a routine.
Despite all their attempts to suppress the push for independence, both through politicians and fighters in the name of Mau Mau, they finally gave up in 1963.