Kaikai Kicker: A quiet anniversary of a murder most foul, did Pio Gama Pinto die in vain?

My kicker tonight is dedicated to the memory of Pio Gama Pinto, a man described as Kenya’s unsung martyr and a man whose death in the words of historians marked the end of Kenya’s innocence. In the early morning hours, precisely 9am on this day 57 years ago, Pio Gama Pinto was shot dead outside the gate to his residence in Sarit Centre, Westlands.

Pio Gama Pinto was only 38 years old when an assassin’s bullet cut his life short. But his 38 years is today’s eternity – the man had packed his short life with achievements that can only be envied today. Pio Gama Pinto was a Kenyan of Asian extraction. Born in Nairobi, of parents and a family lineage that traced its roots in Goa, India.

But Pio Gama Pinto was a complete African liberation hero whose exploits included coordinating supply of firearms to the Mau Mau freedom fighters in the forests of Mt. Kenya. Pio’s freedom conscience was fired up during his 10-year stay in India where he witnessed India’s struggle and eventual independence in 1947. He came back to Kenya in 1949 determined to dismantle colonialism in Kenya just the same way it was dismantled in India.

Pio was gifted with a sharp mind and unmatched tactical skills. A master of covert operations, Pio Gama Pinto enlisted the clandestine support of the Indian High Commission in Nairobi to the cause of freedom struggle in Kenya. He made Apa Pant, the first Indian High Commissioner to Kenya a close friend and ally. With great secrecy, he connected the High Commissioner to African leaders. He arranged a late night meeting somewhere in Kiambaa where the Indian High Commissioner was made a Kikuyu elder in a full traditional ceremony in the dead of the night. For his activities in the freedom struggle, Pio Gama Pinto was detained by colonial authorities for five years and he was to spend time in jail with among others, Senior Chief Koinange.

Pio’s organizational skills came in handy in the founding of the party of independence, KANU. But his troubles began soon after independence as ideological differences emerged in the party and the government. With imperialist forces still directing the show in Nairobi, Pio Gama Pinto, regarded a socialist, became a marked man. On the 24th of February 1965, Pio Gama Pinto lay dead at the gate of his home, a victim of political assassination – Kenya’s first such assassination.

To date, no one knows who ordered the killing of Pio, though accusing fingers were pointed at the government of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. In 2013, a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) said his death was motivated by “ideological difference at the heart of the global cold war but also mirrored in domestic politics.” But the commission said those arrested were “scapegoats” meant to divert attention from the real killers.

It is a whole 57 years today and no answers. But Pio’s murder opened a floodgate of similar killings – Tom Mboya, another gifted independence leader followed on 5th July 1969. Shot dead along Moi Avenue as he bought a lotion from a shop. Charismatic Nyandarua politician Josiah Mwangi ‘JM’ Kariuki followed on 2nd March 1975 as others like Kung’u Karumba disappeared into thin air. The culture of assassinations resumed in the 90’s with the killing of Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko in February 1990 and later in the year a suspicious car crash killed Anglican Bishop of Eldoret Alexander Muge.

The list is worryingly long with recent additions including Chris Msando, the IEBC ICT manager killed a few days to the election in 2017.

The mysteries aside, we should never forget Pio Gama Pinto who died today 57 years ago.

That is my kicker!