[Jaramogi Oginga Odinga in a past photo. Details have emerged how he fought political war with his allies JM Kariuki and Tom Mboya]
Correspondences intercepted by Directorate of Intelligence and security of Kenya Colony, which have recently been made accessible by British National Archives reveals the bitter rivalry between Kenyan first Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and trade unionist Tom Mboya.
The two were arguably respected politicians at the time from the present day Luo Nyanza and their political supremacy battles were not unusual.
And the documents reveals for the first time how former Nyandarua North MP JM Kariuki conspired with Mboya to ‘fix’ Odinga for unknown reasons in his trip to Ghana where he met President Kwame Nkrumah, an ally of Oginga.
While the details of their meeting is not clear, a response letter by Odinga’s private secretary indicates that both Mboya and JM had accused Odinga of working with the British to sabotage release of Jomo Kenyatta from Kapenguria prison.
“Your letter of June 18 1958 has taken me by surprise. I urge upon you not to believe the imperialists lies that have been passed upon to you,” said Oluande Oduol as reported by the Sunday Nation.
“We have proven facts that Mboya is an Anglo-American agent working with KANU to uphold Western dominance in our party and country,” added Oduol in the letter.
JM’s mission certainly did little to discredit Jaramogi in eyes of Nkrumah, but even it did, it appears that the two Pan-Africanists ironed out their differences later.
In his ‘Not Yet Uhuru’ autobiography, Nkrumah describes Jaramogi as “a friend and fellow freedom fighter’.
Odinga resigned as Vice President in 1966 with Nkurumah falling to a military coup the same year before seeing political asylum in Guinea.