Ng’ethe Njoroge was a Kenyan journalist and diplomat, and the father of Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. He was part of Kenya’s first delegations to the United Nations after independence and served as Kenya’s High Commissioner in London through most of the 1970s. He died on December 24, 2023, at the age of 95, and would have turned 98 on November 10, 2026.
| Date of Birth | November 10, 1928 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death | December 24, 2023 |
| Aged | 95 |
| Nationality | Kenyan |
| Zodiac Sign | Scorpio |
| Occupation | Journalist and diplomat |
| Place of Birth | Central Province, Kenya |
| Resting Place | Limuru, Kenya |
| Sister | Jemimah Gecaga (first female MP in Kenya) |
| Brother | Njoroge Mungai (Kenyan Cabinet Minister/MP) |
| Relatives | Jomo Kenyatta (first president of Kenya) |
| Children | Tom Morello, plus three sons from his second marriage |
| Grandchildren | Rhoads Morello |
Ng’ethe Njoroge Biography
Ng’ethe Njoroge was born on November 10, 1928, in colonial Kenya, to George Segeni Njoroge and Leah Magana. The family was Kikuyu, and his parents were early Christians at the Church of the Torch, the mission founded by Church of Scotland minister John William Arthur. His father worked as a cook at a Presbyterian mission in Nairobi before opening a shop and a transport company. Tuko has reported that his father was born Maasai, as Segeni ole Mbuchucha, and later took the Kikuyu name Njoroge.
He came from one of Kenya’s best-connected families. He had five brothers and one sister. His sister, Jemimah Gecaga, became Kenya’s first female member of parliament, and his brother Njoroge Mungai served as a Cabinet minister. The family was also related to Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president, whom Tom Morello has called his great-uncle.
He studied at Alliance High School in Kikuyu and later in Iganga, Uganda. He then moved to the United States, earning a bachelor’s degree at Central State College in Wilberforce, Ohio. In 1961 he finished a master’s degree in journalism at Boston University.
He was also tied to the fight for independence. In a 2006 interview with Metal Hammer, Tom Morello said his father took part in the Mau Mau uprising against British rule, which ran from 1952 to 1960. Morello has said his own anti-authoritarian outlook started there.
Career
Njoroge joined Kenya’s new government as the country gained independence in 1963. He was an assistant secretary at the Ministry of Lands and Settlements from 1963 to 1964, then moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a senior assistant secretary in 1964.
His diplomatic work moved fast from there. In 1964 he was a delegate to the Organisation of African Unity and to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. He sat on Kenya’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1964, 1965 and 1966, and he headed the ministry’s Africa and Middle East Division in Nairobi from 1964 to 1967.
He was posted to Bonn, West Germany, as counsellor at the Kenyan embassy from 1968 to 1970. In 1970 he became Kenya’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, a post he held until 1978, and he was also accredited as ambassador to Italy and Switzerland in 1974.
In London he was close to Tiny Rowland, the head of the mining and trading giant Lonrho. The Nation described him as Rowland’s insider in Jomo Kenyatta’s circles. His nephew, Udi Gecaga, ran Lonrho’s East Africa business. “I felt sympathy for Tiny, because he was the underdog against the City and the Establishment,” Njoroge told writer Tom Bower for the book Rebel Tycoon.
His London posting ended in 1978, the year Kenyatta died. According to the Nation, he was the first to fall in the purge that followed, when he was recalled from London. He then settled into a quiet, non-political life in Kenya.
Ng’ethe Njoroge and Tom Morello
Njoroge met Mary Morello, an American teacher, in Nairobi in August 1963, at a pro-democracy protest. Mary was teaching in Kenya at the time. She became pregnant, and the couple traveled to the United States that November and married in New York City. Their son, Tom Morello, was born on May 30, 1964, in Harlem.
The marriage did not last. Njoroge went back to Kenya when Tom was 16 months old, and the couple divorced. Mary Morello raised Tom alone in Libertyville, Illinois, where she taught high school history.
For decades, father and son had no contact. Speaking to the YouTube series Identified in 2025, Morello said his mother wrote letters to his father’s Kenyan P.O. box throughout his life, and they went “unanswered.” When people asked if he missed having a dad, he would reply, “Did you miss your third parent?”
They finally met when Tom was 30. Mary wrote ahead before a trip to Kenya, and Njoroge left a message at their Nairobi hotel inviting them to dinner. “I saw my dad. I saw him for first time, I was 30,” Morello told Identified. He said his father “couldn’t have been more gracious.” He also learned his father had received every letter, including news of Harvard and Tom’s number one record, and had replied to none.
Tom went on to become one of rock’s best-known guitarists, with Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and his solo work as The Nightwatchman. Rolling Stone has ranked him among the greatest guitarists of all time.
Personal Life
After returning to Kenya, Njoroge remarried and had three more sons. Tom Morello said in the 2025 Identified interview that he learned about his three brothers on that first trip, and that his father did not want them to meet. His father was also uneasy being introduced as Tom’s father in front of their tour group, Morello said.
Njoroge spent his later years in Limuru, in Kiambu County. He died on December 24, 2023, at age 95, and Limuru MP John Kiragu posted a tribute to “the late Ambassador Ng’ethe Njoroge” the next day. He was buried on his land in Limuru on December 28, 2023, the Nation reported. Mary Morello died on July 12, 2026, at the age of 102.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Tom Morello’s father?
Tom Morello’s father was Ng’ethe Njoroge, a Kenyan journalist and diplomat who served at the United Nations and as Kenya’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Is Ng’ethe Njoroge still alive?
No. He died on December 24, 2023, at age 95, and was buried in Limuru, Kenya, on December 28, 2023.
How old would Ng’ethe Njoroge be today?
He was born on November 10, 1928, so he would have turned 98 on November 10, 2026.
Was Tom Morello’s father related to Jomo Kenyatta?
Yes. Njoroge’s family was related to Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president, and Tom Morello has called Kenyatta his great-uncle.
Did Tom Morello ever meet his father?
Yes, once he was an adult. Tom met his father for the first time at age 30, over dinner in Nairobi during a trip with his mother.
