On Tuesday, July 5, Kenyans are marking 53 years since the country's iconic trade unionist and a political leader was gunned down outside a  pharmacy on a government road what is now known as Tom Mboya street.

Thomas Joseph Mboya, born on  August 15, rose from a very humble background to become a renowned trade unionist worldwide.

Tom Mboya as he was famously known became the first African to sit in the International Confederation of Free Trade Union board. 

Moreover he was a good orator and an intellect per excellence.

Mboya was an avid and eloquent trade unionist, known worldwide for his various contributions towards the Trade Union movements in Africa until he joined the murky world of politics.

At this point, he had many political enemies on the right as well as the left. He also had personal enemies, for he could be arrogant, brittle and ruthless in political infighting. 

He articulated the rights of the people very well and fought for them determinedly.

As a Luo, Mboya was given only a scant chance to succeed Kenyatta, a member of the country's dominant Kikuyu tribe.

His talents were such, however, that he might have been assassinated to head off any possibility of his presidency. Kenyatta described his death as "a loss to Kenya, to Africa and the world."

Before meeting his mysterious death on a serene Saturday afternoon in Nairobi, Tom Mboya, the then Minister of Economic Planning and Development, was doing a little shopping downtown.

It was until he stepped into Chhani's Pharmacy to buy a bottle of lotion when he emerged, an assassin opening fire before escaping in the ensuing confusion.

Mboya was struck in the chest, blood soaking his suede jacket, and died in an ambulance on the way to Nairobi Hospital. Grieving Kenyans soon gathered in many numbers at the hospital that baton-wielding police were called out to keep the crowd at bay.

His killer was identified as Nahashon Isaac Njenga.

He was later on arrested and hanged. Due to the fact that Nahashon was from the Kikuyu tribe, this fueled the rivalry witnessed between the Kikuyu and Luo tribes owing to the fact that the Luo Nation had lost a beloved member in their society.

After his arrest, Njoroge asked, "Why don't you go after the big man?" Due to such statements, suspicions arose that Mboya's shooting was a political assassination.