Our Kenya

Independence 1963

3 min read

Kenya achieved independence, uhuru, on 12 December 1963, ending 68 years of British colonial rule that began with the establishment of the East Africa Protectorate in 1895. For the Kikuyu people, independence was the culmination of a half-century of organised resistance: from Harry Thuku's 1922 protests to the Kikuyu Central Association's political campaigns to the armed struggle of the Mau Mau Uprising. Jomo Kenyatta, who had spent nine years in British detention, became Kenya's first Prime Minister. One year later, on 12 December 1964, Kenya became a republic and Kenyatta became its first President.

Key Facts

  • The Lancaster House Constitutional Conference (1962) negotiated the terms of independence; Kenyatta, released from restriction in 1961, led the Kenya African National Union (KANU) delegation
  • Kenya officially became independent at midnight on 12 December 1963; the Union Jack was lowered, the Kenyan flag raised, and Jomo Kenyatta was sworn in as Prime Minister
  • One year later, 12 December 1964, Kenya became a republic within the Commonwealth; Kenyatta became President
  • Kenyatta's first cabinet included both Kikuyu and non-Kikuyu ministers, and his public message was harambee ("pulling together" in Swahili), national unity over ethnic grievance
  • The Million Acre Scheme (1963-1970): the new government bought out European settler farms in the former White Highlands and resettled African smallholders; approximately one million acres were redistributed, but Mau Mau veterans complained that the politically connected benefited most
  • Many Kenya Land and Freedom Army veterans, who had fought for land and freedom, found themselves landless and pensionless after independence; the new state did not honour them as heroes for decades
  • Dedan Kimathi, executed in 1957, was not publicly rehabilitated as a national hero by the Kenyatta government; the political legacy of Mau Mau was complicated and partly suppressed
  • Kikuyu political and economic dominance of the early post-independence state was significant: Kenyatta's inner circle (the "Kiambu Mafia" centred on Kiambu district) consolidated land and business assets during the 1960s and 1970s
  • Wangari Maathai would later challenge the post-independence government's environmental failures, arguing that uhuru had not delivered the dignity of the land that the founding generation fought for

The Unfinished Promise

Independence delivered political freedom but not economic justice for many Kikuyu, especially Mau Mau veterans and the landless poor. The land question that began with the Githaka system, was made acute by the White Highlands, and drove the Mau Mau Uprising was not fully resolved by the transfer of power. It remains contested in Kenya to this day.

See Also

Jomo Kenyatta | Mau Mau Uprising | Kenya Land and Freedom Army | Dedan Kimathi | Harry Thuku | White Highlands | Githaka | Kiambu | Wangari Maathai | Kenyatta Presidency | Gen Z Protests 2024

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