In late 1965, Luo Union Sports Club and Kisumu Hot Stars played at the Nairobi Stadium in a match which is still talked about today with avid enthusiasm.
But the content of the talk is less to do with the soccer played than with the opportunity the match provided for a clear expression of the Odinga-Mboya split within the Luo community.
Both Odinga and Mboya attended before a packed stadium. The Kisumu Hot Stars were in peak form. The two factions occupied distinct areas of the stadium, one chanting Odinga’s slogans, and the other faction chanting Mboya.
When Mboya presented the ‘Mboya Cup’ to the victorious team, which was now clearly identified with his ‘rival’, Odinga, there was a great deal of abuse hurled at Mboya who became angry and rebuked the crowd.
Incidents followed the match, including an attempt to assault Mboya in his car as he was driven away, and numerous arrests were made. Among those arrested were two of the star soccer players originally poached from the Luo Union [team identified with Mboya] and on this day playing for the Kisumu Hot Stars.
This was the only time the Luo nation was split with South Nyanza supporting Mboya and Central Nyanza supporting Odinga who was also revered in some parts of South Nyanza.
On August 21, 1965 , just a couple of months before the match at Nairobi Stadium , Luo Union organised for a meeting at Kaloleni Hall to help heal the rift within the Luo Community.
However Mboya knowing the influence Odinga wielded in the Union, announced that he would not attend the meeting since he was neither consulted nor his approval sought before the handbills publicizing the meeting were printed.
Mboya pointed out that it was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public that he had accepted in invitation to speak to the meeting.
“In any case,” he added, “if the Luo Union officials genuinely desire to see discussions of any issue which they think divide the Luos, they know they cannot achieve this at a public meeting.” He said he hoped officials of the union will keep to the aims of the union as defined in its constitution.
He continued: “In the past few months Luo Union meetings have been held at Kisumu and elsewhere, and in every case they announced that I would be speaking without first consulting me or seeking my approval.”
“The people attending these meetings,” Mboya said, “have been misled into believing that I had been invited to attend but refused to do so. The impression has also been given that Luo Union officials were in contact with all Luo leaders. Such an impression is false.”
For a very long time Mboya approached politics as a Kenyan. But with tribalism becoming a major element in Kenyan politics after independence, he realised too late that he also needed a solid support base of his own people if he was to achieve his ambition of leading Kenya.
To consolidate his support in Luoland in 1965 Mboya built a house in Kisumu, just near State House, where he used to spend his weekends. He also initiated a number of projects in Nyanza.
Just before his death he desperately tried reaching out to Odinga who was reluctant to meet him because of the role he had played in pushing him out of the government.
According to Odinga’s assistant when he formed his boss that Mboya had been looking for him, Odinga simply replied ” l know what he wants”, but never went into details.
