People of Kenya

Early Life and Education Dedan Kimathi Waciuri was born in October 1920 in Thenge (sometimes spelled Kanyinya) village of Tetu, Nyeri District in central Kenya. Raised in a peasant Kikuyu family under colonial rule, young Kimathi grew up witnessing the profound inequalities imposed by British settler domination – from African land dispossession to harsh labor … Read more

Raila Amolo Odinga (born 1945) stands as one of Kenya’s most consequential and enduring politicians. Over a career spanning four decades, Odinga has been at the center of Kenya’s struggle for democracy, constitutional reform, and opposition politics. He is often called “Baba” (father) by his supporters, revered as a champion of the people, and nicknamed … Read more

Jomo Kenyatta stands as one of the most consequential figures in African political history. To many Kenyans, he remains the “Father of the Nation,” the leader who guided Kenya from colonial rule to independence in 1963. Yet, Kenyatta’s life also reflects the paradoxes of decolonization—he was both a symbol of anti-colonial resistance and an architect … Read more

On the morning of February 24, 1965, Nairobi woke to a silence that would last decades. A car rolled out of the driveway of a modest home in Westlands. Inside sat Pio Gama Pinto, journalist, activist, socialist, and one of the most dangerous men to Kenya’s new ruling class. Moments later, three shots rang out. … Read more

Early Life and Education Mwai Kibaki was born on November 15, 1931, in Gatuyaini village in Kenya’s central highlands, the youngest of eight children in a farming family. Showing academic promise, Kibaki attended top local schools before earning a scholarship to Makerere University in Uganda, where he studied economics, history, and political science, graduating in … Read more

In the early 19th century, long before colonial railways and highways carved through Kenya, the Akamba (Kamba) people blazed an inland trail from the coast deep into the highlands. Caravans of Kamba traders regularly trekked from Mombasa through the arid Taru Desert into Ukambani (Kamba territory) and beyond, ferrying prized ivory tusks and other goods … Read more

On the afternoon of July 5, 1969, Tom Joseph Mboya stepped out of Chhani’s Pharmacy on Government Road, Nairobi. He had just bought a bottle of lotion. As he walked to his car, a man approached, pulled a revolver, and fired. Mboya collapsed on the pavement, bleeding out at just 39 years old. By the … Read more

On October 8, 2004, in Oslo, a woman from the ridges of Nyeri walked onto a stage and made history. The Nobel Committee awarded Wangari Maathai the Peace Prize, the first African woman to win it, for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” The world saw an environmentalist. Kenyans knew her as something … Read more

1. The Problem with Graves Kamiti has two kinds of silence. The first belongs to the prison routine—paperwork, footsteps, the steady hum of an institution that has outlived its purpose. The second silence is the one the state built on purpose. Somewhere beneath the dry Nairobi soil, Dedan Kimathi lies in an unmarked grave. His … Read more