The first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, died on this day 33 years ago at the age of 89. He was one of the foremost African nationalist leaders of his generation, having spent most of the 1930s and 1940s in England studying, representing the Kikuyu Central Association and campaigning for Kenya’s independence, and then most of the 1950s in prison in Kenya after he was charged with involvement in the Mau Mau Rebellion.
In April 1960 a petition with more than a million signatures was presented to the Governor, asking for Kenyatta to be freed, and he was finally released in August 1961. He then led the Kenya African National Union (KANU) delegation at independence talks in London, before KANU won a majority of seats in Kenyan national elections in 1963, with Kenyatta becoming the prime minister of Kenya on 1st June 1963, and then president of Kenya on 1st June 1964 as Kenya became a republic.
In 1967 the Kenyan constitution was amended to increase the president’s powers, and in the 1969 elections the opposition party was banned and its leaders arrested, so that only KANU candidates were allowed to stand. Unsurprisingly, the outlawing of rival candidates meant that Kenyatta was returned to the presidency at each subsequent election. His style of government encouraged the tribalism and corruption which continue to tarnish Kenya’s reputation.