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Front: Jomo Kenyatta (1893-1978), Prime Minister 1963-1964, President of Kenya 1964-1978

Kenyatta was born Kamau wa Ngengi in British East Africa (now Kenya). He was one of the earliest and best-known African nationalist leaders. As secretary of his tribal association, he campaigned in 1928 for land reform and African political rights. He collaborated with other African nationalist students while in England, and founded with Kwame Nkrumah, the Pan-African Federation in 1946. Returning the same year to Kenya, he became president of the Kenya African Union. In 1953, during the Mau Mau uprising, Kenyatta was imprisoned by the British as one of its instigators, and was sent to internal exile in 1959. While in exile in 1960, Kenyatta was elected president of the newly formed Kenya African National Union. Released in 1961, he participated in negotiations with the British to write a new constitution for Kenya.

Kenya gained independence in 1963, and became a republic in 1964 with Kenyatta as its first president. Kenyatta was intolerant of dissent in Kenya. He outlawed some opposition parties in 1969 and established a one-party state in 1974. He followed a nonaligned foreign policy and died in office in 1978.

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Front: Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi (1924-), President of Kenya 1978-2002

Moi was first named to the legislature in 1955. In 1963, he joined Kenya's first independent government and the Kenya African National Union (KANU). Moi became vice president in 1967 and he succeeded Jomo Kenyatta as Kenya's and KANU's president in 1978 after Kenyatta's death.

Moi established a one-party state in 1982, but repression and subsequent protests in the late 1980s led the United States to withhold aid. Moi restored a multiparty system in late 1991 and was reelected in 1992 and 1997, but his government continued to be accused of human-rights violations and corruption. After retiring as Kenyan president in 2002 he continued to head KANU until early 2005.

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Front: Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi (1924-), President of Kenya 1978-2002

Back: Jet aircraft flying over Jomo Kenyatta airport

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Front: Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi (1924-), President of Kenya 1978-2002

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