In 1939, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first black head of government emigrated to Sussex, England, where he worked as a farm laborer; he raised chickens and grew vegetation.
He remained in England until the end of World War II which occurred in 1945.
In 1940, Kenyatta dodged the United Kingdom’s military draft otherwise known as military conscription by acquiring a job as an agricultural worker
He eventually made his way to Sandgate, the countryside. The area was said to remind him of the rural town of Ichaweri.
He worked at the tomato hothouse section of AG Linfield & Sons while lecturing about colonial themes at the Workers Education Centre. It was there he met Edna Grace Clarke, a teacher.
After the death of Clarke’s parents, Kenyatta and Clarke began a romance. They wed on May 11, 1942, at the Chanctonbury Registry Office in Sussex. He was already married to Grace Wahu.
On August 11, 1943, their son, Peter Magana was born.
Feeling the effects of partial communication between Kenya and Britain, Kenyatta eagerly wanted to return home stating he felt “like a general separated by 5000 miles from his troops.”
While in Sussex, he authored the essay, My People of Kikuyu and the Life of Chief Wangombe arguing for his tribe’s political liberation. Kenyatta also delivered lectures around England.
Kenyatta finally left Sussex in 1945 at the end of WWII. Clarke sensed that her husband would not return to England. Kenyatta knew that if his white wife returned with him to Kenya, her life and their son’s life would be difficult due to colonial rule.
He kept in contact with Clarke via letters despite their divorce in 1946. Clarke died in 1995. She was 86-years-old.
Born Kamau wa Ngengi circa 1897 in Gatunda, British East Africa, Kenyatta was a politician and anti-colonial activist.
Kenyatta was afforded the opportunity to gain his education abroad in Moscow and London.
Later in life, he adopted Pan-African values and was a staunch supporter of the eradication of British rule.
Kenyatta would go on to serve as a school principal and president of the Kenya African Union.
In 1952, he was accused and later convicted of masterminding the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya. He was imprisoned until 1959. He was then exiled to Lodwar until 1961.
In 1963 Kenyatta became the Prime Minister of Kenya. The following year he became the president of Kenya, holding the position until his death on August 22, 1978. Throughout the course of his life, he was regarded as the “Father of the Nation.”
BY FARIDA DAWKINS
Source-face2faceafrica.com
Kenyatta was not a freedom fighter. He was marrying an English woman and making babies with her when Kenya’s Mau Mau fighters were fighting the English. The biggest mistake the Mau Mau did was to confide with Kenyatta. Kenyatta knew where the Mau Mau leaders were. The Mau Mau leaders were wiped out and Kenyatta brought back to Kenya to take over from the British. The British could not envision handing power to people who were fighting them as this would jeopardize their interests in Kenya. So, after killing Dedan Kimathi , who had the interests of Kenya Africans at heart, and other Mau Mau leaders, they brought their son in law, Kenyatta, to protect their interests. So Kenyatta had no interest of Kenyans at heart, but rather those of Britain. To call Jomo Kenyatta a freedom fighter is an insult to those who actually fought and died for Kenya to be independent.
Mze Jomo Kenyatta left his white wife and son behind in Scotland before coming homey to Kenya becauseh of the following reasons
1)To prevent her from experiencing cultural shock
2) He was confused and undecided who amongst the four women the cap fits naturally as the future First Lady
3,)Kenya was still under colonial rule r therefore bringing home a white woman home will definitely cause people to stare at them with snubbish facial expression