In honour of #SabaSabaAt30: here's a series of @Reuters clips about the Kenya African Democratic Union, Kenya's 1st opposition party.
KADU was formed in 1960. Below: 1964 rally in Nairobi addressed by a young Martin Shikuku, Daniel arap Moi, & KADU president Ronald Ngala. 1/5
2/5 KADU drew Kenya's regional parties together to advocate for a federal system of govt.
Below: 1962 meeting of the Masai United Front. Calls for 'a vigorous struggle to have Masai land...returned to its rightful owners, the Masai people'. Calls for an independent Masai state.
3/5 KADU proposed to create 6 regional assemblies, each equal to parliament in Nairobi.
Here's a 1962 meeting in Kitale, showing Masinde Muliro laying the foundation stone for an assembly building.
In honour of the occasion the baby in the film was christened 'Majimbo'.
4/5 KADU representatives at the 1962 Lancaster House negotiations so irritated Oginga Odinga that he titled one of the chapters of his autobiography 'Majimbo gets in the Way of Uhuru'.
Here's a clip of KADU delegate William Murgor's return to Nairobi from the London conference.
5/5 KADU lost the election of 1963, & in 1964 the party dissolved.
Here's Paul Ngei--formerly deputy leader of the opposition--pledging allegiance to KANU outside Parliament, Sept 1963. Ngei: 'I do not want another Congo in Kenya, with little kingdoms fighting each other'.
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Happy Independence Day to colleagues & friends in Uganda.
Here's the original version of the anthem by George Kakoma. The 1st phrase was 'Oh Uganda, thy people praise thee'. A week before independence, tho, the Church of Uganda bishop protested that God was nowhere mentioned. 1/
2/ Milton Obote hastily agreed to change the phrase to 'May God uphold thee'. The new version had to be printed in great haste. It is the latter phrase that Ugandans will be singing today.
Here's a photo of the independence celebrations, October 1962.
3/ In 2022 colleagues @ugandamuseums and I put together an exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of independence.
Here's the documentary film we made for 'Uganda at 60', featuring interviews with Miria Obote, late Joyce Mpanga, Rhoda Kalema & others.
@GettyImages 2/
Late Nagenda's parents were William and Sala Nagenda, who were--with Simeon Nsibambi--the central figures in the early history of the East African Revival.
Here's William Nagenda with colleague Yosiya Kinuka in 1936.
@GettyImages 3/
John Nagenda studied at King's College, Budo--his marks are detailed below. Thereafter he went to Makerere, where he read English literature.
The father of new British PM--Rishi Sunak--was born in Kenya & emigrated to London in the 1960s. He was one of several thousand Asians who fled in the years after independence, seeking financial security. Short thread.
Here's Tom Mboya, Minister for Economic Planning, 1968. 1/
Mboya: while some Asians have left, 'I wld rather have that than have disloyal, disaffected people...who are not prepared to cooperate in promoting nation-building'.
In 1969 the Trade Licensing Act barred Asians from owning important businesses in & outside Nairobi.
3/ As a result of the Act, some 3,000 Asian businessmen were put out of work. Many sought to emigrate to Britain--but strict quotas made it hard for them to relocate.
Here Asians demonstrate outside the British High Commission in Nairobi, demanding support from the British govt.
Kenyans go to the polls on Tuesday. Here's a thread about one of the contenders for the presidency, @RailaOdinga. In the 1980s & 90s he played a key role in bringing down the dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi.
Below: Raila speaks at a convention of opposition leaders, 1992. 1/
@RailaOdinga 2/
Raila married Ida Betty Akoth Oyoo in September 1973. She was to play a key role in his political career: as an advocate, a defender of his liberty, a spokesperson, and a public face--at a time when Raila himself was in detention & out of view.
@RailaOdinga 3/
Raila studied engineering in Germany; by 1975 he was a manager at the Kenya Bureau of Standards. Below: a thought piece from the Nation about 'Standardisation'.
Fifty years ago, on 4 August 1972, Idi Amin announced that Uganda's Asian community--over 50,000 people--had 90 days to leave the country.
Here he is at 'Command Post' in Kololo on 6 August, explaining the policy to the diplomatic corps.
Short thread. 1/
2/ 'One’s mind boggles at the thought of the effects of the sudden withdrawal of all Asians from Ugandan life', wrote a British diplomat a few days after the announcement. 'Practically everything one can think of has Asian somewhere in the system'.
@GettyImages 3/
The Uganda government argued that the expulsion was an orderly and logical. Here's a remarkable clip: Grace Ibingira, UN representative for Uganda, defending the expulsion of the Asians at the United Nations.
As far as I know, this is the only place where Ibingira is on film.
On 20 Aug. 1968 250,000 soldiers from the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, putting an end to the 'Prague Spring'.
The invasion caused outrage in eastern Africa. Here students in Tanzania lob rotten eggs at the Soviet embassy--& express sympathy to the Czech ambassador. 1/
2/ In Kenya students marched to the Soviet embassy, carrying signs calling the invasion 'An Act of Imperialism of the Vilest Decree'. Other signs: 'Russians Go Home' & 'New Hitlerism'.
3/ For months the Czech Spring--and its violent end--were front page news on @NationAfrica.