The image has long outlived the moment.
A battered Toyota Stout pickup inches through Nairobi, loudspeakers bolted to its bonnet.
On its roof sits veteran politician Martin Shikuku, arm thrust defiantly into the air.
Beside him are James Orengo and other opposition figures, their expressions a blend of determination and defiance as they make their way towards Kamukunji Grounds on November 16, 1991.
The photograph became one of the defining portraits of Kenya’s Second Liberation.
Yet, for decades, the man behind the steering wheel remained almost invisible.
On Thursday, July 9, Siaya Governor James Orengo sought to change that, paying an emotional tribute to Julius Maina Kago, the driver who ferried opposition leaders into one of the country’s most consequential confrontations with the Moi regime.
Kago died on Tuesday, July 7, aged 75, after a long illness, his death coinciding with the 36th anniversary of Saba Saba.
“It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that I have learned of the passing of Mzee Julius Maina Kago,” Orengo wrote on Facebook, describing him as “an unsung general of Kenya’s democratic struggle”.
Orengo recalled that when KANU banned public assembly and security agencies moved to crush the planned Kamukunji rally, Kago accepted a task many feared would cost them their freedom or their lives.
“He was not just a driver,” Orengo wrote.
“He courageously ferried Martin Shikuku, Masinde Muliro, Phillip Gachoka, myself and other opposition leaders into the historic Kamukunji Grounds.”
It was a journey measured in only a few kilometres but one that travelled into Kenya’s democratic history.
The pickup, owned by Kago’s employer, Hezekiel Gachu, rolled through streets crawling with police officers determined to stop the opposition convoy.
Shikuku, Orengo and Muliro Arrested
Before the leaders could address supporters, many, including Shikuku, Orengo and Masinde Muliro, were arrested.
Newspaper front pages the following morning immortalised both the arrests and the now-famous pickup, turning it into a symbol of resistance against one-party rule.
History remembered the politicians.
It largely forgot the driver.
According to Orengo, Kago later built a life through sheer determination, eventually graduating from employee to owner of his own vehicle, a quiet testament to the resilience that had defined him long before he entered the pages of Kenya’s political history.
“As the sole survivor of those who rode in the back of that historic pickup into the eye of the storm, I feel the weight of his departure deeply,” Orengo wrote.
His tribute was both personal and political.
“We have lost a patriot who stood in the spotlight of danger so that Kenyans could breathe the air of freedom,” he added, promising to continue fighting for “a completely liberated, fair Kenya” in honour of his fallen comrade.
Kago’s family says his role in the struggle came at a heavy personal cost.
TRIBUTE TO A HERO OF THE SECOND LIBERATION: FAREWELL MZEE JULIUS MAINA KAGO
It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that I have learned of the passing of Mzee Julius Maina Kago, who rested on Tuesday, July 7th, 2026, at King David Hospital in Ng’ong’, coinciding… pic.twitter.com/RPzXJU4zet
— James Orengo (@orengo_james) July 9, 2026
After the Kamukunji operation, he reportedly went into hiding for two days before surrendering to police, where he was detained and allegedly tortured before his release.
Suffered Stroke
A stroke years later ended his transport business, but never his pride in having played a small yet indispensable role in changing Kenya’s political course.
Those who knew him say he carried one unfulfilled wish until the end: to sit down over a cup of tea with Orengo and reminisce about that extraordinary day when an ordinary driver helped transport democracy itself.
Today, the iconic Toyota pickup exists only in fading photographs and yellowing newspaper clippings. Many of the men who rode on its back have since died.
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Now Kago has joined them.
But every time Kenyans look at that unforgettable image of fearless politicians perched atop a rumbling pickup headed for Kamukunji, history may finally remember the quiet man gripping the steering wheel, the driver who chose courage over comfort and, in doing so, helped steer a nation towards multiparty democracy.
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