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| Jomo Kenyatta |
However,
despite the fact that he had previously been a popular martyr after being
imprisoned during the Mau Mau rebellion, Kenyatta was viewed at a much
different and more negative angle as he established new policies. Eventually, the culmination of various KANU
acts led to the Luo’s suspicion of a Kikuyu conspiracy, since Kenyatta was a
member of the Kikuyu. One of these acts
included Kenyatta’s founding of a “Kenyanization” policy in which he bought
formerly Kenyan lands back from European settlers and redistributed it mostly
among Kikuyu, “creating a Kikuyu hegemony in both
politics and economics.” Ironically, the
favoring of his own tribe contradicted his emphasis on unity and nationalism. He stated, “Where there has been racial hatred, it must be
ended. Where there has been tribal animosity, it will be finished. Let us not
dwell upon the bitterness of the past. I would rather look to the future, to
the good new Kenya, not to the bad old days. If we can create this sense of
national direction and identity, we shall have gone a long way to solving our
economic problems."[2] The Luo Vice
President Oginga Odinga believed that Kenyatta was ignoring the needs of
Kenya’s poor, and thus formed the Kenya People’s Union (KPU). Kenyatta, through “legislative manipulation”,
ensured that the KPU remained “politically ineffective”[3]. In 1969, the Luo and KANU co-founder Tom
Mboya was assassinated, the KPU was formally banned, and several KPU officials,
including Odinga, were imprisoned. When
Kenyatta provided wealthy Kikuyu with substantial amounts of land in 1971, the
Luo were certain that “ethnic favoritism” was responsible for the government’s
actions.[4] As criticism against his government
increased, and after a Coup d'État, or overthrow of the government, was attempted,
Kenyatta became more autocratic. He
managed to serve three terms before his death in 1978.
Kenyatta’s successor was Daniel arap
Moi, from the Kalenjin ethnic group.
Moi worsened Kenyatta’s traces of autocracy and attempted to eradicate
essentially all traces of Kenyan democracy.
He proclaimed that the KANU was Kenya’s only legal political party, and
“centralized all power in the presidency” by “using censorship and
imprisonment”[5]. Similarly to Kenyatta, Moi favored his own
ethnic group, which angered the Kikuyu and Luo and sparked a Luo attempt to
oust the president, which failed; Moi was reelected the next year. Moi continually strengthened his grip on the
country as opposition to his government increased. Riots flared in response to his reelection in
1988, prompting Moi to amend the constitution “to further increase his
essentially dictatorial powers”.[6]
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| Daniel arap Moi |
Moi’s totalitarian rule provoked Odinga to establish the
popular Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD), while various “sources of
international Economic Assistance withdrew their support in protest against
Moi's authoritarianism”.[7] In the face of fiery opposition, Moi
permitted multiparty elections in 1992, but strategically blamed concurrent deadly
ethnic clashes on the multiparty system that he had allowed. He was reelected yet again, proving FORD to
be essentially helpless. Further
protests ensued following his reelection in 1997. His final term was characterized by volatile
unrest and a 1998 bombing in Nairobi that destroyed the U.S. Embassy. In 2002 he was compelled to step down from
presidency as a result of term limits in the constitution. The National Rainbow Coalition was formed
when the ethnically based parties untied to triumph over Uhuru Kenyatta, (the
son of Jomo Kenyatta) Moi’s successor.
The new president was Mwai Kibaki, who “finally ended KANU's
stranglehold on Kenyan politics.” Kibaki
established a government that had the potential to move Kenya toward a more
democratic and steady future.
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