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Kenya
The Mau Mau rebellion was militarily defeated, but its costs and the scandal of the detention camps pushed Britain to abandon settler rule and transfer power to Kenyatta's KANU.
- Independence
- December 12, 1963
- Before
- Kenya Colony
- Metropole
- United Kingdom
- Leader
- Jomo Kenyatta
- Transition
- Armed Insurgency
- Movement
- Kenya African Union (KAU); Kenya Land and Freedom Army (Mau Mau); KANU
Land and the White Highlands
From 1895 the East Africa Protectorate, a Crown colony from 1920, reserved the fertile 'White Highlands' for European settlers. Kikuyu and other communities lost land and many became squatters and labourers. Land hunger, poverty and blocked political reform fed a movement that bound members by oath, known as Mau Mau, whose fighters called themselves the Kenya Land and Freedom Army.
The Emergency
Britain declared a State of Emergency on 20 October 1952 and arrested Jomo Kenyatta and other KAU leaders. At Kapenguria he was convicted on 8 April 1953 in a trial widely regarded as rigged: the chief prosecution witness, Rawson Macharia, swore in 1958 that he had given false evidence in return for inducements. Tens of thousands were detained in camps where torture was systematic, and around a million Kikuyu were forced into guarded villages.
The Road to Independence
The killing of 11 detainees at Hola camp on 3 March 1959 caused a scandal in Britain and hastened a change of policy. The Lancaster House conferences of 1960, 1962 and 1963 moved Kenya to majority rule. Kenyatta was freed on 14 August 1961, led KANU to victory in the May 1963 elections and became Prime Minister on 1 June. Kenya became independent on 12 December 1963.
Chronology
- 20 October 1952 — State of Emergency declared; Kenyatta arrested
- 8 April 1953 — Kenyatta convicted at Kapenguria
- 18 February 1957 — Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi executed
- 3 March 1959 — Hola massacre: 11 detainees killed
- January 1960 — First Lancaster House conference
- 14 August 1961 — Kenyatta released
- 12 December 1963 — Independence
Aftermath
Kenyatta preached reconciliation and 'Harambee', but land transfers largely favoured elites and loyalists. Kenya became a republic in December 1964, with the opposition KADU merging into KANU that year; it was a de facto one-party state from 1969 and a de jure one from 1982. In 2013 the British government expressed regret and agreed a £19.9 million settlement with 5,228 Kenyans tortured and abused during the Emergency.
Legacy
The harsh suppression of Mau Mau left deep scars, and its history was long contested in Kenya and suppressed in British records until the 'migrated archives' were released in 2011–13. Independent Kenya achieved growth but remained deeply unequal, dominated by a political elite.