The Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), led by James Beauttah and Joseph Kang'ethe, was a political organisation in colonial

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formed in 1924 to act on behalf of the Gĩkũyũ community by presenting their concerns to the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

. One of its greatest grievances was the expropriation of the most productive land by British settlers from African farmers. Most members of the organisation were from the Gĩkũyũ tribe. KCA was formed after the colonial government banned the earlier Young Kikuyu Association founded by Harry Thuku and the East African Association. In either 1925 or early 1926, Beauttah moved to Uganda, although remained in contact with Kenyatta. When the KCA wrote to Beauttah and asked him to travel to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

as their representative, he declined, but recommended that Kenyatta who had a good command of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...

go in his place. Kenyatta accepted, probably on the condition that the Association matched his pre-existing wage. He thus became the group's secretary.

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigeno ...

, later the first president of Kenya, joined it to become its General Secretary in 1927. The Kikuyu Central Association was banned in 1940 when World War II reached East Africa. Some fighters of the later

Mau-Mau The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the ''Mau Mau'', an ...

still understood their struggle as continuation of KCA and even called themselves KCA. WAZI BUDA The end of World War II, however, saw the new type of African organisation that went beyond tribal boundaries with the rise of the Kenya African Union that later was to become KANU. KCA published the ''Muiguithania'' ("the reconciler"), a Kikuyu language newspaper. It was banned alongside KCA in 1940.SHIRAZ DURRANI
NEVER BE SILENT: PUBLISHING & IMPERIALISM IN KENYA 1884 - 1963

References

''Muigwithania 2.0 - The original KCA publication banned by the colonial government revived on the Internet in 2008''

External links

History of Kenya Political parties established in 1924 British Kenya {{poli-org-stub

See also

References

External links