Kenyan Nationalists

If Kenyatta is the first name that people associate with Kenya’s nationalist movement, then Oginga Odinga and Tom Mboya are the next. Both were Luo nationalists (the third-largest ethnic group), both were on Kenya’s Legislative Council, and both supported Kenyatta and worked towards his freedom. Interestingly enough, both would also have falling-outs with Kenyatta and his government after Kenya gained independence.

Odinga, above, the elder of the two, was Kenyatta’s second-in-command; when Kenyatta was arrested, Odinga was the next in line to take hold of Kenya’s nationalism. Instead, he worked diligently to free Kenyatta and elected him the president of KANU (Kenyan African National Union) in absentia, while he was in prison. For his loyalty, he was chosen to be vice president when Kenyatta became the first president of Kenya, illustrating his constant role of supporter rather than leader. He would later greatly criticize Kenyatta for his single-party government and corruption.

Mboya, too, backed Kenyatta and struggled to win freedom for the imprisoned nationalist. He was more focused on education and labor laws, his parents being uneducated field workers of the Luo minority. Quickly rising in Kenyan politics, he became the general secretary for the only national labor union in Kenya at only 23. He studied in India as well as at Oxford University in England, and traveled to the USA to negotiate study programs for Kenyan students. Mboya also disapproved of Kenyatta’s corruption and favoritism towards the Kikuyu, but rather than allying with Odinga the two became bitter enemies as Odinga heavily criticized Mboya for his lack of radical fervor for land reallocation.

While these two supported most of Kenyatta’s policies, especially pre-independence, there were other nationalist leaders such as Dedan Kimathi who found his peaceful, moderate methods far too slow to achieve their goals of land reallocation and independence, preferring methods that moved rather more quickly, explosively, and often violently.