biography
| name: |
Kenyatta, Jomo
|
| |
originally Kamau Ngengi
|
pronunciation:
[kenyata]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.1889–1978)
|
| biography:
| Kenyan statesman and president (1964–78), born in Mitumi, Kenya. Educated at a Scots mission school, he studied at London, and became president of the Pan-African Federation. In the late 1940s his Kenya African Union advocated total independence in a unitary state. He was charged with leading the Mau Mau terrorist organization (a charge he denied), and was sentenced to seven years' hard labour in 1952, then exiled. In 1960, while still in detention, he was elected president of the new Kenya African National Union Party. He became an MP in 1961, prime minister in 1963, and President of the Republic of Kenya in 1964. He adopted moderate social and economic policies, and succeeded in conciliating many members of the Kenyan white community. |
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