Jomo Kenyatta

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Lore & Background

Kenyatta was born to Kikuyu farmers in Kiambu, British East Africa. He was educated at a mission school and later worked in various jobs before becoming politically engaged through the Kikuyu Central Association. In 1929, he travelled to London to lobby for Kikuyu land affairs. During the 1930s, he studied at Moscow's Communist University of the Toilers of the East, University College London, and the London School of Economics. In 1938, he published an anthropological study of Kikuyu life before working as a farm labourer in Sussex during the Second World War. Influenced by his friend George Padmore, he embraced anti-colonialist and Pan-African ideas, co-organising the 1945 Pan-African Congress in Manchester. He returned to Kenya in 1946 and became a school principal. In 1947, he was elected President of the Kenya African Union, through which he lobbied for independence from British colonial rule, attracting widespread indigenous support but animosity from white settlers. In 1952, he was among the Kapenguria Six arrested and charged with masterminding the anti-colonial Mau Mau Uprising. Although protesting his innocence—a view shared by later historians—he was convicted. He remained imprisoned at Lokitaung until 1959 and was then exiled to Lodwar until 1961.

Reader's Guide

Jomo Kenyatta was a central figure in Kenya's transition from British colony to independent republic. As Prime Minister and later President, he oversaw the establishment of a one-party state, suppressed political dissent, and prohibited KANU's only rival—Oginga Odinga's leftist Kenya People's Union—from competing in elections. He promoted reconciliation between indigenous ethnic groups and the European minority, though relations with Kenyan Indians were strained. His government pursued capitalist economic policies and the 'Africanisation' of the economy, prohibiting non-citizens from controlling key industries. Education and healthcare were expanded, while UK-funded land redistribution favoured KANU loyalists and exacerbated ethnic tensions. Under Kenyatta, Kenya joined the Organisation of African Unity and the Commonwealth of Nations, espousing a pro-Western and anti-communist foreign policy amid the Cold War. He died in office and was succeeded by Daniel arap Moi. Kenyatta was a controversial figure: prior to independence, many white settlers regarded him as an agitator, while across Africa he gained widespread respect as an anti-colonialist. During his presidency, he was given the honorary title of Mzee and lauded as the Father of the Nation, but his rule was also criticised as dictatorial, authoritarian, and neocolonial, of favouring Kikuyu over other ethnic groups, and of facilitating the growth of widespread corruption.

Did You Know?

• Kenyatta was born with the name Kamau; he later took the name Kenyatta from a beaded belt (kĩnyata in Kikuyu) that he wore while living among the Maasai.
• He was baptized as Johnstone Kamau in August 1914 after the missionaries forced him to choose just one Christian name from John and Peter.
• In 1920, Kenyatta's son Peter Muigai was born; Kenyatta was suspended from Holy Communion for drinking and for his relationship with Grace Wahu out of wedlock.
• During the 1930s, Kenyatta studied at Moscow's Communist University of the Toilers of the East, University College London, and the London School of Economics.
• Kenyatta was among the Kapenguria Six arrested in 1952 and charged with masterminding the Mau Mau Uprising; he protested his innocence and later historians shared that view, but he was convicted and imprisoned until 1959.