Nairobi has was brought to a near standstill after a man attempted to hang himself on the monument of a man whose pre-independence student airlifting programmes birthed former US President Barack Obama.
The man was later rescued from the monument after he had hanged his boots on the outstretched hand of former President Jomo Kenyatta’s Minister for Labour, Tom Mboya.
Mboya was a firebrand trade unionist who advocated for the rights of workers, a job which would later catapult him into national politics.
An orator, the youthful politicians would later attract both hate and love in equal measure. love from his admirers and hate from his political detractors.
When a man decided to commemorate the death of Mboya which occurred on the 5th of July as early as on 28th May, city dwellers were shocked to the core.
Without police presence, the man had climbed and hung his shoes ready to take the plunge when a section of concerned city residents took it upon themselves to rescue him.
What is clear is that the man could have had a concussion in the worst-case scenario as the monument is barely 10 metres high.
The monument which was built in 2011 is said to have cost the tax-payer some Sh20 million and three years to construct.
The contrast in the photos. Man wanted to hang himself on the Tom Mboya monument while the adverts targeting the middle class really epitomized our nonchalant attitude. pic.twitter.com/4IcRHp6zKf
— Robert Alai (@RobertAlai) May 28, 2019
“I first modelled the monument in plasticine at the City Hall’s basement where I was working on it, then took it to China where it was cast in bronze. The process took about three years,” said Oshottoa Ondula who designed the monument.
Even with the enormous amounts spent to put up the structure in remembrance of the national hero, the Nairobi County government has done little to no work to ensure it is maintained to match initial standards.
The monument was mounted on its current grounds by a crane after several falls which, interestingly, did not damage it.
Since the inception of County Governments, the statue has been left as an orphan through the successive governments of embattled former Nairobi governor Dr Evans Kidero and that of incumbent Mike Sonko.
Tom Mboya was shot dead in 1969 after he took a walk to a nearby Chemist just 20 metres from where his statue now stands.