Editing History of Kenya (section)

====Constitutional Debates and the Path to Independence====
{{See also|Jaramogi Oginga Odinga|Nairobi People's Convention Party|Lancaster House Conferences (Kenya)|The Kennedy Airlift}}
After the suppression of the Mau Mau rising, the British provided for the election of the six African members to the Legislative Council (MLC) under a weighted franchise based on education. Mboya successfully stood for office in the first election for African MLCs in 1957, beating the previously nominated incumbent, [[Argwings Kodhek]]. [[Daniel Arap Moi]] was the only previously nominated African MLC who kept his seat. [[Oginga Odinga]] was also elected and shortly afterwards nominated as the first chairman of the African elected members. Mboya's party, the [[Nairobi People's Convention Party|Nairobi People's Convention Party (NPCP)]], was inspired by [[Kwame Nkrumah|Kwame Nkurumah's]] [[People's Convention Party]]. It became the most organised and effective political party in the country. The NPCP was used to effectively mobilise the masses in Nairobi in the struggle for greater African representation on the council. The new colonial constitution of 1958 increased African representation, but African nationalists began to demand a democratic franchise on the principle of "one man, one vote." However, Europeans and Asians, because of their minority position, feared the effects of universal suffrage.

In June 1958, [[Oginga Odinga]] called for the release of Jomo Kenyatta. This call built momentum and was taken up by the NPCP. Agitation for African suffrage and self-rule picked up in pace. One major hindrance to self-rule was the lack of African human capital. Poor education, economic development and a lack of African technocrats were a real problem. This inspired Tom Mboya to begin a programme conceptualised by a close confidante [[Blasio Vincent Ndale Esau Oriedo|Dr. Blasio Vincent Oriedo]], funded by Americans, of sending talented youth to the United States for higher education. There was no university in Kenya at the time, but colonial officials opposed the programme anyway. The next year Senator [[John F. Kennedy]] helped fund the programme, hence its popular name  – [[The Kennedy Airlift]].<ref>''Airlift to America. How Barack Obama Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours'', by Tom Shachtman</ref> This scholarship program trained some 70% of the top leaders of the new nation, including the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, environmentalist [[Wangari Maathai]] and [[Barack Obama]]'s father, [[Barack Obama Sr.]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032902031.html?hpid=topnews|title=Obama Overstates Kennedys' Role in Helping His Father|last=Dobbs M|date=2008|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=1 February 2010|archive-date=30 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430131754/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032902031.html?hpid=topnews|url-status=live}}</ref>

At a conference held in 1960 in London, agreement was reached between the African members and the British settlers of the [[New Kenya Group]], led by [[Michael Blundell]]. However many whites rejected the New Kenya Group and condemned the London agreement, because it moved away from racial quotas and toward independence. Following the agreement a new African party, the [[Kenya African National Union|Kenya African National Union (KANU)]], with the slogan "Uhuru," or "Freedom," was formed under the leadership of Kikuyu leader [[James Gichuru|James S. Gichuru]] and labour leader [[Tom Mboya]]. KANU was formed in May 1960 when the [[Kenya African Union|Kenya African Union (KAU)]] merged with the [[Kenya Independence Movement|Kenya Independence Movement (KIM)]] and [[Nairobi People's Convention Party|Nairobi People's Convention Party (NPCP)]].<ref>The Politics of The Independence of Kenya by Kyle Keith. Palgrave MacMillan 1999 p 93-111</ref> Mboya was a major figure from 1951 until his death in 1969. He was praised as nonethnic or antitribal, and attacked as an instrument of Western capitalism. Mboya as General Secretary of the Kenya Federation of Labour and a leader in the Kenya African National Union before and after independence skilfully managed the tribal factor in Kenyan economic and political life to succeed as a Luo in a predominantly Kikuyu movement.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Goldsworthy D|date=1982|title=Ethnicity and Leadership in Africa: The 'Untypical' Case of Tom Mboya|journal=[[Journal of Modern African Studies|J. Mod. Afr. Stud.]]|volume=20|issue=1|pages=107–126|jstor=160378|doi=10.1017/S0022278X00000082|s2cid=154841201 }}</ref> A split in KANU produced the breakaway rival party, the [[Kenya African Democratic Union|Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU)]], led by [[Ronald Ngala]] and [[Masinde Muliro]]. In the [[Kenyan legislative election, 1961|elections of February 1961]], KANU won 19 of the 33 African seats while KADU won 11 (twenty seats were reserved by quota for Europeans, Asians and Arabs). Kenyatta was finally released in August and became president of KANU in October.