Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15 August 1930 – 5 July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman.

[3] He laid the foundation for Kenya's capitalist and mixed economy policies at the height of the Cold War and set up several of the country's key labour institutions.

[1] He gave speeches, participated in debates and interviews across the world in favour of Kenya's independence from British colonial rule.

In 1960, Mboya was the first Kenyan to be featured on the front page cover of Time magazine in a painting by Bernard Safran.

Thomas ("Tom") Joseph Odhiambo Mboya was born at this colonial sisal farm on 15 August 1930, near the town of Thika, in what was called the White Highlands of Kenya.

[citation needed] Mboya's political life started immediately after he was employed at Nairobi City Council as a sanitary inspector in 1950.

In that role, Mboya gave speeches in London and Washington, D.C. opposing British colonial rule in Kenya.

[1] Mboya reached out to other labour leaders across the world, more so in the ICFTU, including American A. Philip Randolph, with whom he was close.

[citation needed] In 1956, after Mboya had returned from the United Kingdom, the colonial government allowed black Africans to run for office and serve in the Legislative Assembly.

In 1960, the Kennedy Foundation agreed to underwrite the airlift, after Mboya visited Senator Jack Kennedy to ask for assistance, and Airlift Africa was extended to Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar (now Tanzania), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Nyasaland (now Malawi).

Together with his deputy then Mwai Kibaki, he issued Sessional Paper 10, which defined Kenya's form of economic policies, when it was debated and passed by parliament in 1965.

Kenyatta and Mboya were known advocates of a non-aligned international policy, not wanting blanket application of capitalism while completely abhorring scientific socialism.

In 1966,Tom Mboya was removed from the economic planning ministry and Kibaki was appointed for the first time as full Minister for Commerce and Industry.

[1] He retained the portfolio as Minister for Economic Planning and Development until his death at the age of 39 when he was gunned down on 5 July 1969 at Government Road (now Moi Avenue), Nairobi CBD, after visiting Chaani's Pharmacy.

[16] Mboya's role in Kenya's politics and transformation is the subject of increasing interest, especially with the prominence of American politician Barack Obama.

[17] In a 1976 interview, James Jesus Angleton, a retired senior CIA official, expressed his opinion that Mboya was killed by the KGB as part of a Cold War campaign against pro-Western politicians in Africa.

[19] Tom Mboya married Pamela Odede on Saturday, 20 January 1962 at St. Peter Claver’s Catholic Church on Racecourse Road, in Nairobi.