Kenyatta, Jomo

Kenyatta, Jomo (jō`mō kĕnyä`tə), 1893?–1978, African political leader, first president of Kenya (1964–78). A Kikuyu, he was one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leaders. As secretary of his tribal association (1928), he campaigned for land reform and African political rights. In England he collaborated with other African nationalist students and founded (1946), with Kwame Nkrumah, the Pan-African Federation. Returning (1946) to Kenya, he became president of the Kenya African Union. In 1953, during the Mau Mau uprising, Kenyatta was imprisoned by the British as one of its instigators, then sent to internal exile (1959). Kenyatta was elected president of the newly founded (1960) Kenya African National Union while in exile. Released in 1961, he participated in negotiations with the British to write a new constitution for Kenya, which became independent in 1963. Kenya became a republic in 1964 with Kenyatta as president. Influential throughout Africa, Kenyatta was intolerant of dissent in Kenya, outlawing some opposition parties in 1969 and establishing a one-party state in 1974. The stability resulting from his leadership attracted foreign investment. He followed a nonaligned foreign policy and died in office. He wrote Facing Mount Kenya (1938) and Suffering without Bitterness (1968).

Bibliography

See biography by J. Murray-Brown (1972).

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Kenyatta, Jomo

Kenyatta

(credit: John Moss—Black Star)

(born c. 1894, Ichaweri, British East Africa—died Aug. 22, 1978, Mombasa, Kenya) First prime minister (1963–64) and then president (1964–78) of independent Kenya. Of Kikuyu descent, Kenyatta left the East African highlands c. 1920 to become a civil servant and political activist in Nairobi. He opposed a union of the British colonial territories of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. In 1945 he helped organize the sixth Pan-African Congress, attended by such figures as W.E.B. Du Bois and Kwame Nkrumah (see Pan-African movement). In 1953 he was sentenced to a seven-year prison term for directing the Mau Mau rebellion, though he denied the charges. In 1962 he negotiated the constitutional terms leading to Kenya's independence. As its leader he headed a strong central government, rejected calls to nationalize property, and made Kenya one of the most stable and economically dynamic African states. Critics complained of the dominance of his Kenya African National Union (KANU) party and the creation of a political and economic elite. Many of his policies were continued under his successor, Daniel arap Moi.

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Kenyatta, Jomo 

Born c. 1893, in the small town of Ichaweri, Kenya. Kenyan statesman and politician. Member of the Kikuyu tribe.

Kenyatta graduated from a mission primary school. He entered politics in the early 1920’s and several years later was elected general secretary of the Kikuyu Central Association, one of the first Kenyan political organizations. Between 1931 and 1946 he studied and worked in Great Britain. On returning to Kenya he became active in the national liberation movement. In 1947 he headed the Kenya African Union. In 1952 he was arrested by the English colonial authorities on the charge of having organized and led the Mau Mau, a religious and political movement, and was sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment. After completing his sentence, he was exiled to northern Kenya. In 1960, while still in exile, he was elected president of the Kenya African National Union. Returning from exile in 1961, he served as prime minister of the first national government of Kenya from June to December 1963. Upon Kenya’s independence in December 1963, he became prime minister, and he has served as president of Kenya since its proclamation as a republic in December 1964. Kenyatta is the author of several works denouncing English colonial policy in Kenya.