On this day in history: Jomo Kenyatta was elected Prime Minister of Kenya
On 27 May 1963, Kenya elected its first Prime Minister, Jomo Kenyatta, after the country gained independence from Britain.
In 1963 Jomo Kenyatta was elected Kenya’s first Prime Minister following the country’s independence from Britain. In 1964 he became the first President of the Republic of Kenya.
A few years earlier, Kenyatta had been sentenced to hard labour and was restricted following his arrest in 1952 related to allegations of his complicity in the Mau Mau rebellion. The group was a radical anti-colonial movement engaged in rebellion against Kenya’s British rulers.
The trial lasted five months and he remained in prison until 1959, after which he was detained in Lodwar, a remote part of Kenya. He was released on 14 August 1961.
Kenyatta was the leader of Kenya from independence in 1963 to his death in 1978. He is considered the founding father of Kenya.
Source: SA History
