Editing Jomo Kenyatta (section)

==Legacy==

[[File:Jomo Kenyatta Statue 2.JPG|thumb|upright|A statue of Kenyatta (1971) by [[James Butler (artist)|James Butler]] was erected at the [[Kenyatta International Conference Centre|KICC]] in Nairobi.]]

Within Kenya, Kenyatta came to be regarded as the "Father of the Nation",{{sfnm|1a1=Murray-Brown|1y=1974|1p=315|2a1=Arnold|2y=1974|2p=166|3a1=Bernardi|3y=1993|3p=168|4a1=Cullen|4y=2016|4p=516}} and was given the unofficial title of ''[[Mzee]]'', a Swahili term meaning "grand old man".{{sfnm|1a1=Jackson|1a2=Rosberg|1y=1982|1p=98|2a1=Assensoh|2y=1998|2p=3|3a1=Nyangena|3y=2003|3p=4}} From 1963 until his death, a [[cult of personality]] surrounded him in the country,{{sfn|Maloba|2018|p=4}} one which deliberately interlinked Kenyan nationalism with Kenyatta's own personality.{{sfn|Maloba|2018|p=4}} This use of Kenyatta as a popular symbol of the nation itself was furthered by the similarities between their names.{{sfn|Jackson|Rosberg|1982|p=98}} He came to be regarded as a [[father figure]] not only by Kikuyu and Kenyans, but by Africans more widely.{{sfn|Arnold|1974|pp=192, 195}}

After 1963, Maloba noted, Kenyatta became "about the most admired post-independence African leader" on the world stage, one who Western countries hailed as a "beloved elder statesman."{{sfn|Maloba|2018|p=2}} His opinions were "most valued" both by conservative African politicians and by Western leaders.{{sfn|Maloba|2017|p=196}} On becoming Kenya's leader, his anti-communist positions gained favour in the West,{{sfn|Maloba|2017|p=26}} and some pro-Western governments gave him awards; in 1965 he, for instance, received medals from both [[Pope Paul&nbsp;VI]] and from the South Korean government.{{sfn|Maloba|2017|p=25}}

In 1974, Arnold referred to Kenyatta as "one of the outstanding African leaders now living", someone who had become "synonymous with Kenya".{{sfn|Arnold|1974|p=9}} He added that Kenyatta had been "one of the shrewdest politicians" on the continent,{{sfn|Arnold|1974|p=209}} regarded as "one of the great architects of African nationalist achievement since 1945".{{sfn|Arnold|1974|p=192}} Kenneth O. Nyangena characterised him as "one of the greatest men of the twentieth century", having been "a beacon, a rallying point for suffering Kenyans to fight for their rights, justice and freedom" whose "brilliance gave strength and aspiration to people beyond the boundaries of Kenya".{{sfn|Nyangena|2003|p=4}} In 2018, Maloba described him as "one of the legendary pioneers of modern African nationalism".{{sfn|Maloba|2018|p=1}} In their examination of his writings, Berman and Lonsdale described him as a "pioneer" for being one of the first Kikuyu to write and publish; "his representational achievement was unique".{{sfn|Berman|Lonsdale|1998|p=17}}

===Domestic influence and posthumous assessment===

Maxon noted that in the areas of health and education, Kenya under Kenyatta "achieved more in a decade and a half than the colonial state had accomplished in the preceding six decades."{{sfn|Maxon|1995|p=143}} By the time of Kenyatta's death, Kenya had gained higher life expectancy rates than most of Sub-Saharan Africa.{{sfn|Maxon|1995|p=143}} There had been an expansion in primary, secondary, and higher education, and the country had taken what Maxon called "giant steps" toward achieving its goal of universal primary education for Kenyan children.{{sfn|Maxon|1995|p=143}} Another significant success had been in dismantling the colonial-era system of racial segregation in schools, public facilities, and social clubs peacefully and with minimal disruption.{{sfn|Maxon|1995|p=143}}

[[File:Kenyatta Mausoleum2 (1295043508).jpg|thumb|left|Kenyatta's [[Mausoleum]] in Nairobi]]
During much of his life, Kenya's white settlers had regarded Kenyatta as a malcontent and an agitator;{{sfn|Arnold|1974|p=46}} for them, he was a figure of hatred and fear.{{sfn|Maloba|2018|p=2}} As noted by Arnold, "no figure in the whole of British Africa, with the possible exception of [Nkrumah], excited among the settlers and the colonial authorities alike so many expressions of anger, denigration and fury as did Kenyatta."{{sfn|Arnold|1974|p=37}} As the historian Keith Kyle put it, for many whites Kenyatta was "Satan Incarnate".{{sfn|Kyle|1997|p=43}} This white animosity reached its apogee between 1950 and 1952.{{sfn|Arnold|1974|pp=197–198}} By 1964, this image had largely shifted, and many white settlers referred to him as "Good Old Mzee".{{sfn|Arnold|1974|p=180}} Murray-Brown expressed the view that for many, Kenyatta's "message of reconciliation, 'to forgive and forget', was perhaps his greatest contribution to his country and to history."{{sfn|Murray-Brown|1974|p=322}}

To Ochieng, Kenyatta was "a personification of conservative social forces and tendencies" in Kenya.{{sfn|Ochieng|1995|p=93}} Towards the end of his presidency, many younger Kenyans—while respecting Kenyatta's role in attaining independence—regarded him as a [[reactionary]].{{sfn|Arnold|1974|pp=192–193}} Those desiring a radical transformation of Kenyan society often compared Kenyatta's Kenya unfavourably with its southern neighbour, Julius Nyerere's Tanzania.{{sfn|Savage|1970|pp=519–520}} The criticisms that leftists like Odinga made of Kenyatta's leadership were similar to those that the intellectual [[Frantz Fanon]] had made of post-colonial leaders throughout Africa.{{sfn|Savage|1970|p=518}} Drawing upon Marxist theory, Jay O'Brien, for instance, argued that Kenyatta had come to power "as a representative of a would-be bourgeoisie", a coalition of "relatively privileged petty bourgeois African elements" who wanted simply to replace the British colonialists and "Asian commercial bourgeoisie" with themselves. He suggested that the British supported Kenyatta in this, seeing him as a bulwark against growing worker and peasant militancy who would ensure continued neo-colonial dominance.{{sfn|O'Brien|1976|pp=92–93}}

Providing a similar leftist critique, the Marxist writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o stated that "here was a black Moses who had been called by history to lead his people to the promised land of no exploitation, no oppression, but who failed to rise to the occasion".{{sfn|Maloba|2017|p=354}} Ngũgĩ saw Kenyatta as a "twentieth-century tragic figure: he could have been a [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], a [[Mao Zedong]], or a [[Ho Chi Minh]]; but he ended up being a [[Chiang Kai-shek]], a [[Park Chung Hee]], or a [[Augusto Pinochet|Pinochet]]."{{sfn|Maloba|2017|p=355}} Ngũgĩ was among Kenyan critics who claimed that Kenyatta treated Mau Mau veterans dismissively, leaving many of them impoverished and landless while seeking to remove them from the centre stage of national politics.{{sfn|Maloba|2017|pp=350–351, 353}} In other areas Kenyatta's government also faced criticism; it for instance made little progress in advancing women's rights in Kenya.{{sfn|Assensoh|1998|p=65}}

Assensoh argued that in his life story, Kenyatta had a great deal in common with the Ghanaian, Kwame Nkrumah.{{sfn|Assensoh|1998|p=3}} Simon Gikandi noted that Kenyatta, like Nkrumah, was remembered for "initiating the discourse and process that plotted the narrative of African freedom", but at the same time both were "often remembered for their careless institution of presidential rule, one party dictatorship, ethnicity and cronyism. They are remembered both for making the dream of African independence a reality and for their invention of postcolonial authoritarianism."{{sfn|Gikandi|2000|p=4}}
In 1991, the Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist [[Gibson Kamau Kuria]] noted that in abolishing the federal system, banning independent candidates from standing in elections, setting up a unicameral legislature, and relaxing restrictions on the use of emergency powers, Kenyatta had laid "the groundwork" for Moi to further advance dictatorial power in Kenya during the late 1970s and 1980s.{{sfn|Kuria|1991|pp=120–21}}

In its 2013 report, the [[The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Kenya|Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Kenya]] accused Kenyatta  of using his authority as president to allocate large tracts of land to himself and his family across Kenya.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Kenyatta-led-elite-in-land-grabbing-/1064-1859262-7fe9vsz/index.html|title=Kenyatta Led Elite in Land Grabbing |date=11 May 2013|website=[[Daily Nation]]|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810111856/https://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Kenyatta-led-elite-in-land-grabbing-/1064-1859262-7fe9vsz/index.html|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The Kenyatta family is among Kenya's biggest landowners.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenyatta-family-s-multi-billion-shilling-dream-city-takes-off/539546-3040862-tbxmtbz/index.html|title=Kenyatta Family Seeks Approval To For Its Dream City Outside Nairobi |first=Kiarie |last=Njoroge |date=20 January 2016 |work=Business Daily |access-date=12 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110165633/https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenyatta-family-s-multi-billion-shilling-dream-city-takes-off/539546-3040862-tbxmtbz/index.html|archive-date=10 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
During the 1990s, there was still much frustration among tribal groups, namely in the Nandi, Nakuru, Uasin-Gishu, and Trans-Nzoia Districts, where under Kenyatta's government they had not regained the land taken by European settlers and more of it had been sold to those regarded as "foreigners"—Kenyans from other tribes.{{sfn|Boone|2012|p=86}} Among these groups there were widespread calls for restitution and in 1991 and 1992 there were violent attacks against many of those who obtained land through Kenyatta's patronage in these areas. The violence continued sporadically until 1996, with an estimated 1500 killed and 300,000 displaced in the Rift Valley.{{sfn|Boone|2012|pp=86–87}}