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About the politics of monuments:

The statue of Jomo Kenyatta--outside KICC in Nairobi--was unveiled during the 10th anniversary of Kenya's independence, Dec. 1973. It was cast in bronze at a London foundry & weighs 3 tons.

Below: @Reuters clip of the ceremony.
More information about the statue. Here's a clip from @guardian. The statue was done by James Butler, a British artist who also did statues in Zambia & Ghana.

At the ball that evening people were entertained by Dizzy Gillespie, who wrote Burning Spear with Love for the occasion. Image
And here is Dizzy at the state ball. Courtesy University of Arkansas Library. Image
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Derek R Peterson
@Unseen_Archive
For Madaraka Day:

Prime Minister Kenyatta spent a very great amount of time--in the month before independence--negotiating with Mau Mau 'hard core', who were reluctant to accept his gov't.

Here's a Reuters clip, 31 Dec., showing a group of Mau Mau generals with Kenyatta. 1/3
2/3
 Here's a second clip, 16 Dec. 1963, showing the surrender of Mau Mau fighters at Ruringu Stadium in Nyeri. Among them: Marshall Muthoni and General Kahanoki, who wore a sheepskin hat.

Dedan Kimathi's widow spoke at the ceremony, calling for 'Uhuru na Mau Mau'.
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 Kimathi's widow continued, 16 Dec. 1963: calls for land for Gikuyu landless people, food for widows, and schools for orphans. Demands that ex-fighters should be given 'all the rights which can be enjoyed by high-ranking people in the country'.

Below: report from @guardian.
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Derek R Peterson
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Monday 1 June is Madaraka Day, when Kenyans mark the anniversary of self-gov't.

Here's a Reuters clip of Kenyatta with Mau Mau Gen. Mwariama, 2 weeks before independence. Kenyatta was deeply worried about the challenge that he & other Mau Mau 'hard core' posed to his gov't. 1/4
2/4
 In the early 1960s Mau Mau had set up a provisional gov't in parts of central Kenya, challenging colonial officials' control.

Kenyatta--keen to centralise power--offered an amnesty to Mau Mau. Here he is with 'General China' and other Mau Mau leaders, discussing the amnesty.
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 Mau Mau partisans were obliged to come down from the mountains and hand in their weapons to Kenyatta's gov't.

Here is a remarkable clip from Feb. 1964 showing Bildad Kaggia--formerly a Mau Mau partisan, the most progressive member of cabinet--inspecting Mau Mau weapons.
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Derek R Peterson
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Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi was captured by 2 Gikuyu policemen on 21 Oct 1956. A lot of still photos were taken that day, but I'd not known that there was cinema film, too. Here's an @AP clip.

The clip shows that Kimathi--shot in the leg, possibly in shock--was laid out 1/4
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 and put on display for the cameras. The pictures were printed around the world.

A few years ago @Drjuliemac found the transcript for the trial that ensued. Among the evidence introduced to the court was a 1954 letter from Kimathi's 'Kenya Parliament' to the Kenya govt.
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 The letter is full of proverbs calling for an honourable end to war. 'Truth and fairness is not a product of the gun. Justice breaks a tied bow, as a snake's line is severed by anything that intersects it'. 'He who chases tires equally as he who is chased', wrote Kimathi.
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