Jomo Kenyatta [ a ] CGH c. He played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic. Educated at a mission school , he worked in various jobs before becoming politically engaged through the Kikuyu Central Association. In , he travelled to London to lobby for Kikuyu land affairs. In , 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 Pan-African Congress in Manchester. He returned to Kenya in and became a school principal. In , 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 , he was among the Kapenguria Six arrested and charged with masterminding the anti-colonial Mau Mau Uprising. Although protesting his innocenceโa view shared by later historiansโhe was convicted. He remained imprisoned at Lokitaung until and was then exiled to Lodwar until As Prime Minister, he oversaw the transition of the Kenya Colony into an independent republic, of which he became president in Desiring a one-party state , he transferred regional powers to his central government, suppressed political dissent, and prohibited KANU's only rivalโ Oginga Odinga 's leftist Kenya People's Union โfrom competing in elections.
He promoted reconciliation between the country's indigenous ethnic groups and its European minority, although his relations with the Kenyan Indians were strained and Kenya's army clashed with Somali separatists in the North Eastern Province during the Shifta War. 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. Kenyatta died in office and was succeeded by Daniel arap Moi. Kenyatta's son Uhuru later also became president. Kenyatta was a controversial figure. Prior to Kenyan independence, many of its white settlers regarded him as an agitator and malcontent, although across Africa he gained widespread respect as an anti-colonialist.
