[120] [158], Intelligence services continued monitoring Kenyatta, noting that he was politically inactive between 1939 and 1944. [220] The historian Wunyabari O. Maloba later characterised it as "a rigged political trial with a predetermined outcome". While president of the nationalist Kenya African Union, Jomo Kenyatta was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in 1953 in alleged connection with the violent 1952 Mau Mau rebellion. [295] Kenya remained a monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. [96] Before the end of the year, the duo relocated to Moscow, where Kenyatta studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East. After eighteen months in Europe, Kenyatta had run out of money. Jomo Kenyatta (20 October 1892? In 1962, the white minority had produced 80% of the country's exports and were a vital part of its economy, yet between 1962 and 1963 they were emigrating at a rate of 700 a month; Kenyatta feared that this white exodus would cause a brain drain and skills shortage that would be detrimental to the economy. [369] To ease this transition, Kenyatta made Bruce McKenzie, a white farmer, the Minister of Agriculture and Land. Jomo Kenyatta. [159] In Sussex, he wrote an essay for the United Society for Christian Literature, My People of Kikuyu and the Life of Chief Wangombe, in which he called for his tribe's political independence. Updates? Keywords Decolonisation land Majimboism centralisation settlement schemes Type Chapter Information [30] Kenyatta lived with the family of an aunt who had married a Maasai chief,[31] adopting Maasai customs and wearing Maasai jewellery, including a beaded belt known as kinyata in the Kikuyu language. [111] He also wrote the entry on Kenya for Negro, an anthology edited by Nancy Cunard and published in 1934. A member of the Kikuyu people, Kenyatta was born with the name Kamau in the village of Ngenda. (1919-), Grace Wanjikum. [25] He then requested that the mission recommend him for employment, but the head missionary refused because of an allegation of minor dishonesty. [498] Kenyatta nevertheless disagreed with the Marxist attitude that tribalism was backward and retrograde;[499] his positive attitude toward tribal society frustrated some of Kenyatta's Marxist Pan-Africanist friends in Britain, among them Padmore, James, and T. Ras Makonnen, who regarded it as parochial and un-progressive. [459] The Kenyan government had been preparing for Kenyatta's death since at least his 1968 stroke; it had requested British assistance in organising his state funeral as a result of the UK's longstanding experience in this area. President Uhuru Kenyatta's assumption of power in 2013 further served to oil the Kenyatta business juggernaut with most of the family ventures shifting into expansion . (Itara is where the groom's family performs the last traditional marriage ceremony before the real wedding.) [547] In 2018, Maloba described him as "one of the legendary pioneers of modern African nationalism". [20], Kenyatta's academic progress was unremarkable, and in July 1912 he became an apprentice to the mission's carpenter. Kenya's first President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta married four wives, Grace Wahu, Edna Clarke, Grace Wanjiku and Mama Ngina. [19] The longer the pupils stayed, the more they came to resent the patronising way many of the British missionaries treated them. [10] Kenyatta then moved in with his grandfather, Kongo wa Magana, and assisted the latter in his role as a traditional healer. [478], Murray-Brown noted that "Kenyatta had always kept himself free from ideological commitments",[328] while the historian William R. Ochieng observed that "Kenyatta articulated no particular social philosophy". and started a family. In 1938, he published an anthropological study of Kikuyu life before working as a farm labourer in Sussex during the Second World War. [491] Maloba observed that during the colonial period Kenyatta had embraced "radical Pan African activism" which differed sharply from the "deliberate conservative positions, especially on the question of African liberation" that he espoused while Kenya's leader. [214] The judge selected, Ransley Thacker, had recently retired from the Supreme Court of Kenya;[210] the government knew he would be sympathetic to their case and gave him 20,000 to oversee it. [568] [359] Kenyatta and his family were tied up with this corruption as they enriched themselves through the mass purchase of property after 1963. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Matthew Patay Family (1) Spouse Ngina Muhoho (1951 - 22 August 1978) (his death) (4 children) Edna Clarke (May 1942 - ?) Many institutions bear his name. Jomo Kenyatta's only brother James . [177] [480] Similarly, Assensoh noted that Kenyatta was "not interested in social philosophies and slogans". [31] According to Murray-Brown, he "liked being at the centre of life",[505] and was always "a rebel at heart" who enjoyed "earthly pleasures". [202] In August he attended a much-publicised mass meeting in Kiambu wherein front of 30,000 peoplehe said that "Mau Mau has spoiled the country. [354] Many Asians who had retained British citizenship were affected by these measures. During his presidency, he was given the honorary title of Mzee and lauded as the Father of the Nation, securing support from both the black majority and the white minority with his message of reconciliation. [86], "With the support of all revolutionary workers and peasants we must redouble our efforts to break the bonds that bind us. [452] By 1970, he was increasingly feeble and senile,[453] and by 1975 Kenyatta hadaccording to Maloba"in effect ceased to actively govern". Uhuru Kenyatta married one lovely Margaret Wanjiru Gakuo who is now the first last of Kenya for the second tenement. "[513] The South African Peter Abrahams met Kenyatta in London, noting that of all the black men involved in the city's Pan-Africanist movement, he was "the most relaxed, sophisticated and 'westernized' of the lot of us". [212], The trial took place in Kapenguria, a remote area near the Ugandan border that the authorities hoped would not attract crowds or attention. [47] Political upheavals occurred in Kikuyulandthe area inhabited largely by the Kikuyufollowing World War I, among them the campaigns of Harry Thuku and the East African Association, resulting in the government massacre of 21 native protesters in March 1922. [228] In April 1954, they had been joined by a captured Mau Mau commander, Waruhiu Itote; Kenyatta befriended him, and gave him English lessons. [290] MacDonald sped up plans for Kenyan independence, believing that the longer the wait, the greater the opportunity for radicalisation among African nationalists. By this point he was increasingly using the name "Kenyatta", which had a more African appearance than "Johnstone". [157] He attempted to join the local Home Guard, but was turned down. The children were not spared. [215] The government followed the verdict with a wider crackdown, banning KAU in June 1953,[221] and closing down most of the independent schools in the country, including Kenyatta's. We don't want to be dominated by them. [360] Their acquisitions in the Central, Rift Valley, and Coast Provinces aroused great anger among landless Kenyans. [373] This exacerbated urban unemployment and housing shortages, with squatter settlements and slums growing up and urban crime rates rising. One of the EAAs main purposes was to recover Kikuyu lands lost when Kenya became a British crown colony (1920). His thesis was revised and published in 1938 as Facing Mount Kenya, a study of the traditional life of the Kikuyu characterized by both insight and a tinge of romanticism. "[358], Under Kenyatta, corruption became widespread throughout the government, civil service, and business community. [392] He also took on a mediating role during the Congo Crisis, heading the Organisation of African Unity's Conciliation Commission on the Congo. [18] He was soon joined at the mission dormitory by his brother Kongo. In essence, and with Dr Mungai in the picture, they would provide all the leg work. His parents died while he was young, and he then moved to Muthiga to live with his grandfather where he enrolled in the Church of Scotland 's Thogoto mission school, converted to Christianity, and was baptized as Johnstone. [98] Many Africans and members of the African diaspora were attracted to the institution because it offered free education and the opportunity to study in an environment where they were treated with dignity, free from the institutionalised racism present in the U.S. and British Empire. [525] Of these children, it was Margaret who was Kenyatta's closest confidante. [333] To this end, it made efforts to assert the dignity of indigenous African cultures which missionaries and colonial authorities had belittled as "primitive". Over the course of his studies, Kenyatta and Malinowski became close friends. "[561] Ngg was among Kenyan critics who claimed that Kenyatta treated Mau Mau veterans dismissively, leaving many of them impoverished and landless while seeking to remove them from the centre stage of national politics. Padmore resigned from the Soviet Communist Party in protest, and was subsequently vilified in the Soviet press. My abilities extend to decision-making and >communication with proficiency in teamwork. [427] Of the 29 defectors, only nine were re-elected on the KPU ticket;[428] Odinga was among them, having retained his Central Nyanza seat with a high majority. To the KCA such a prospect looked disastrous for Kikuyu interests; in February 1929 Kenyatta went to London to testify against the scheme, but in London the secretary of state for colonies refused to meet with him. [473], "Kenyatta possessed the common touch and great leadership qualities. The aged Kenyatta died in office in Nairobi on August 22, 1978. [55] In June, he was part of a KCA team which appeared before a select committee of the Kenyan Legislative Council to express concerns about the recent introduction of Land Boards. In his Foreword of My People of Kikuyu: And, The Life of Chief Wangombe (1966 Jomo Kenyatta, original name Kamau Ngengi, (born c. 1894, Ichaweri, British East Africa [now in Kenya]died August 22, 1978, Mombasa, Kenya), African statesman and nationalist, the first prime minister (1963-64) and then the first president (1964-78) of independent Kenya. [248] Resolutions calling for his release were produced at the All-African Peoples' Conferences held in Tunis in 1960 and Cairo in 1961. The man who won his country's independence. He was a famous African statesman and nationalist. Kumekucha, "Dear Daddy: Letters straight from the heart", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kenyatta_family&oldid=1139301214, This page was last edited on 14 February 2023, at 12:03. [380], The government oversaw a massive expansion in education facilities. [502] According to Maloba, Kenyatta's government "sought to project capitalism as an African ideology, and communism (or socialism) as alien and dangerous". The trio discussed the possibility of merging their three nations (plus Zanzibar) into a single East African Federation, agreeing that this would be accomplished by the end of the year. Alternate titles: Johnstone Kamau, Kamau, son of Ngengi. [529] While in London, Kenyatta had taken an interest in the atheist speakers at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park,[530] while an Irish Muslim friend had unsuccessfully urged Kenyatta to convert to Islam. Much of the wealth created by Jomo Kenyattas capitalist fiscal policy was concentrated in the hands of his friends and family. But soon a new challenge appeared. [489], While in Britain, Kenyatta made political alliances with individuals committed to Marxism and to radical Pan-Africanism, the idea that African countries should politically unify;[490] some commentators have posthumously characterised Kenyatta as a Pan-Africanist. [304] Despite his attempts at wooing white support, he did not do the same with the Indian minority. Gradually, the number of enrolled pupils fell. [381] In June 1963, Kenyatta ordered the Ominda Commission to determine a framework for meeting Kenya's educational needs. Kenyatta left Thogoto in 1922 and became a clerk and water-meter reader with the Municipal Court of Nairobi. [25] Having completed his apprenticeship to the carpenter, Kenyatta requested that the mission allow him to be an apprentice stonemason, but they refused. [286] Kenyatta accepted a minor position, that of the Minister of State for Constitutional Affairs and Economic Planning. Uhuru Kenyatta unsuccessfully vied for the Kenyan presidency as President Moi's preferred successor in 2002. [297] In 1964, Oxford University Press published a collection of Kenyatta's speeches under the title of Harambee!. Alisoma katika shule ya kanisa la wamisionari wa Kiskoti.. Baada ya kuhitimu aliajiriwa kama . [283] KANU opposed Majimbo, believing that it served entrenched interests and denied equal opportunities across Kenya; they also insisted on an elected head of government. ", After the United Kingdom entered World War II in September 1939, Kenyatta and Stock moved to the Sussex village of Storrington. [414] Opposition to Kenyatta's government grew, particularly following the assassination of Pio Pinto in February 1965. Nehru's response was supportive, sending a message to Kenya's Indian minority reminding them that they were the guests of the indigenous African population. [540], After 1963, Maloba noted, Kenyatta became "about the most admired post-independence African leader" on the world stage, one who Western countries hailed as a "beloved elder statesman. [58], Simon Gikandi argued that Kenyatta, like some of his contemporaries in the Pan-African movement, was an "Afro-Victorian", someone whose identity had been shaped "by the culture of colonialism and colonial institutions", especially those of the Victorian era. [320] Kenyatta became its executive president,[321] combining the roles of head of state and head of government. Before his death in 1979, Peter Muigai served as an Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs. Uhuru Kenyatta Parents - Jomo Kenyatta and Ngina Kenyatta (nee Muhoho) Jomo Kenyatta. [409], Kenyatta made clear his desire for Kenya to become a one-party state, regarding this as a better expression of national unity than a multi-party system. [223] The government took the case to the East African Court of Appeal, which reversed the Supreme Court's decision in August. better than most African leaders, the aged President of Kenya faces growing and. [297] In December, Nairobi's Delamere Avenue was renamed Kenyatta Avenue,[298] and a bronze statue of him was erected beside the country's National Assembly. [93], In Britain, Kenyatta befriended an Afro-Caribbean Marxist, George Padmore, who was working for the Soviet-run Comintern. [122] In it, Kenyatta challenged the Eurocentric view of history by presenting an image of a golden African past by emphasising the perceived order, virtue, and self-sufficiency of Kikuyu society. [72] In January, Kenyatta met with Drummond Shiels, the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, at the House of Commons. [489] He also faced a contradiction between his internal debates on Kikuyu ethics and belief in tribal identity with his need to create a non-tribalised Kenyan nationalism. [115] The book was published under Armstrong's name, although Kenyatta claimed he should have been listed as co-author. [77] Throughout the 1920s Jomo Kenyatta immersed himself in the movement against a white-settler-dominated Kenyan government. Jomo Kenyatta was born circa 1894, to Muigai and Wambui. For example, if the study deals with family conflict, other phrases that could be used to search the literature are family 'family violence' or abuse 'family . Gecaga is the son of Udi and Jeni Wambui Gecaga (first President Jomo Kenyatta's daughter). Authorities will suspend operations at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) Terminal 2 on Feb. 24 and 26 amid the visit and later departure of US First Lady Jill Biden. [186] Relations with the white minority remained strained; for most white Kenyans, Kenyatta was their principal enemy, an agitator with links to the Soviet Union who had the impertinence to marry a white woman. [418] In its manifesto, the KPU stated that it would pursue "truly socialist policies" like the nationalisation of public utilities; it claimed Kenyatta's government "want[ed] to build a capitalist system in the image of Western capitalism but are too embarrassed or dishonest to call it that. Du Bois of the United States in the chair; Kwame Nkrumah, the future leader of Ghana, was also present. [48] Kenyatta had not taken part in these events,[49] perhaps so as not to disrupt his lucrative employment prospects. [496] As Kenya's leader, Kenyatta rejected the idea that Marxism offered a useful framework for analysing his country's socio-economic situation. [192] In April 1950, Kenyatta was present at a joint meeting of KAU and the East African Indian National Congress in which they both expressed opposition to the Kenya Plan. [478] Kenyatta expressed this in his statement that "I have stood always for the purposes of human dignity in freedom, and for the values of tolerance and peace. 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