Jomo Kenyatta

Kenyan nationalist leader and politician. He was originally from the Kikuyu tribe. While working at the Nairobi City Hall, he joined the Young Kikuyu Association in 1922, and in 1928 became the secretary-general of the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA). In 1929, he went to England to fight the land restitution issue (part of the anti-British colonial movement. See the "Kenya" section, "History" chapter). He then studied cultural anthropology at the University of London and Moscow University, and in 1938 published "Towards Mount Kenya," a book about the customs of the Kikuyu people. He married a British woman during World War II. He worked in the secretariat of the Fifth Manchester Conference of the Pan-African Movement in 1945, along with Nkrumah and others. He returned to the country the following year in 1946, and became the leader of the Kenya African Union (KAU), and launched an anti-colonial struggle. He was arrested immediately after the Mau Mau rebellion in 1952, and spent nine years in prison. In 1960, the Kenya African National Union (KANU) was formed, and after the landslide victory in the elections held after the Constitutional Conference, KANU demanded Kenyatta's release from prison when forming a cabinet. He was released in August 1961, and became president of KANU in November. In December 1963, he became the first Prime Minister of independent Kenya, and the following year, in 1964, he became president when the country transitioned to a republic. In 1974, he became president for life, but died of illness on August 22, 1978.

[Akifumi Hayashi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ケニアの民族運動指導者、政治家。出身部族はキクユ。ナイロビ市庁勤務のかたわら、1922年青年キクユ協会に参加、1928年キクユ中央協会（KCA）書記長になり、翌1929年土地返還問題（イギリス植民地化に対する反対運動の一環。「ケニア」の項「歴史」の章参照）でイギリスに渡る。その後ロンドン大学、モスクワ大学で文化人類学を専攻、1938年キクユ人の慣習を書いた『ケニア山に向かいて』を出版した。第二次世界大戦中にイギリス女性と結婚。1945年の汎(はん)アフリカ主義運動第5回マンチェスター会議ではエンクルマらと事務局で活躍した。翌1946年に帰国しケニア・アフリカ人同盟（KAU）党首となり反植民地闘争を展開。1952年のマウマウの反乱直後に逮捕され、9年間獄中生活を送った。1960年ケニア・アフリカ人民族同盟（KANU）が結成され、KANUは制憲会議後に行われた選挙大勝後の組閣にあたってケニヤッタの釈放を要求。1961年8月釈放され11月KANU総裁に就任した。1963年12月独立ケニア初代首相、翌1964年の共和国移行とともに大統領に就任。1974年には終身大統領になったが、1978年8月22日病死した。

［林　晃史］

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