How Kenya's second VP helped Pio Gama Pinto's family relocate after assassination

Two years after the assassination of trade unionist and freedom fighter Pio Gama Pinto on February 24, 1965, his widow, Emma Dias Pinto, along with their three daughters—Linda, Malusha, and Tereshka—and her mother-in-law relocated to Ottawa, Canada.

Joseph Murumbi, a close friend of Pinto and then Minister for External Affairs (and later the second Vice-President of Kenya), played a crucial role in facilitating their move.

Murumbi and other local friends of the fallen politician worked tirelessly to network with international contacts, ensuring the Pinto family would be able to leave Kenya for a peaceful, supportive environment that would help them heal.

Now, 60 years after Kenya’s first political assassination after independence, The Nairobian reveals how Murumbi helped the bereaved family make their journey to Canada.

The pain and sorrow the family endured are captured in a letter Murumbi wrote to Mother Dolorosa of Loreto Convent, where the Pinto children were attending school.

Murumbi wrote: “As I explained to you, the children are terribly upset by the tragic death of their father, and at the moment, they are attending separate schools where they do not even have the consolation of each other’s company. It is felt that it would be much better for them to attend a school where, even though not in the same class, they could at least be near each other.”

In January 1967, Murumbi wrote to the Principal of Loyola College in Montreal, informing him of Mrs. Pinto’s imminent arrival with her family.

However, in 1965, Murumbi had already discussed the possibility of Mrs. Pinto’s relocation to Canada with his close friend, Tanzania’s President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, once the trust fund for the family had been established.

In a letter to Father Malone at Loyola College, Murumbi wrote: “The reason for her emigrating to Canada is rather sad, as her husband, who was a very sincere friend of mine, was brutally murdered. Quite naturally, being a non-African, she wishes to get away from Kenya where the memories of her husband make her feel rather unhappy.”

Murumbi also worked with the United Arab Republic through its ambassador to Kenya, A. M. Gobba, requesting that the Pinto family receive free air tickets from Nairobi to London via United Arab Airlines. The UAR government honoured this request.

Murumbi’s letters from March 1965 revealed that key African leaders such as Nyerere, Uganda’s Prime Minister Milton Obote, and Zambia’s President Kenneth Kaunda contributed to a secret fundraiser to support the Pinto family.

Diplomats from China, Ethiopia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Pakistan, and Japan also participated in the effort.

In late 1967, Murumbi received word from a family friend of Pinto that there were plans to take his remains.

Emma Pinto died in Canada in October 2020 at the age of 92. Pinto’s remains, however, remain at a cemetery in City Park, Nairobi.