The Limuru Conference (1966).

Tom Mboya set off the chain of events that led to the Limuru Conference. As David Goldsworthy narrates in the book, Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted to Forget, he cunningly set a trap for Odinga which the latter obliviously walked into. On 15th February 1966, Mboya tabled a motion in Parliament condemning dissident groups in KANU and asked that all who were against the government should declare themselves. Odinga immediately voiced his disapproval of the motion expressing that he had not been consulted regarding it and stormed out of the House but not before attacking Mboya directly calling him ‘The American ambassador to Kenya’. The motion did pass in his absence but only after 7 hours of vicious debates in which both camps voiced their personal and political disparities to each other in a manner that had never been done before in the country.

Mboya took it a step further by announcing an all-party delegates conference in Limuru slated for 12th and 13th March 1966. The first of its kind since the one held in 1960 (see in Sibling Rivalry). Mboya had neither consulted the national executive, nor given three weeks’ notice, nor issued an agenda and statement of accounts, all of which were required by the KANU constitution. Oginga and his faction all recognized the fact that it was illegal in the first place and protested the decision vehemently. In a last-ditch attempt to avert the process, 49 MPs from Oginga’s faction petitioned Kenyatta to postpone the conference. On the following day, 9th March 1966, 99 MPs from the opposing camp counter petitioned and with the difference of the numbers, it was obvious what course Kenyatta would take4.

On 12th March, the battle lines had been drawn. On one side, the majority faction included Mboya, James Gichuru, Dr. Kiano, Mbiyu Koinange, Moi and Bruce Mckenzie. On the other hand, Oginga Odinga had liaised with Bildad Kaggia, Achieng Oneko, Tom Okelo-Odongo and J. D. Kali. In the conference that took place between 12th to 13th March, Mboya proposed a new party constitution. One that provided for the expansion of his secretary-general docket from only covering ‘all Union correspondence’ to ‘all Union affairs’. Worse still, he proposed that the post Odinga held of Deputy Party leader be dissolved and replaced with 8 provincial vice presidents. His goose was cooked.

The new vice presidents were elected by the delegates as per their provinces. A chagrined Odinga did not even bother running for the Nyanza seat allowing Lawrence Sagini to ascend unopposed. Others like Moi (Rift Valley), Nyagah (Eastern) and Ronald Ngala (Coast) were elected with relative ease. Things got tense in the Central docket when the unabashed backbencher Bildad Kaggia won the seat. His Communist stand (anti-communism was preached strongly at the conference) as well as being allied to Odinga meant that he could not be allowed to hold the seat. To remedy this, more delegates were brought in to offset the vote in favour of James Gichuru and disqualify Kaggia.

Oginga could not take any more. This obvious manipulation of party politics by the in-group was a corruption of justice that he could not stand. In his letter of resignation to Kenyatta, Oginga wrote how he had remained pragmatic in the face of disrespect knowing full well that his appointment ‘was after public pressure against [Kenyatta’s] will’. Further, he complained that he was not considered properly as second in command since administrative duties were never delegated to him. He was therefore unsatisfied as he was ‘earning public money with no job to do’. He closed it off saying ‘With this realization I cannot continue to hold this position any longer and hereby tender my resignation’.

Mboya had aligned himself with the inner Kikuyu group and this gave him immense power but little did he know that it was only a matter of time before they turned their back on him. Read the full story here.