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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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