The Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), led by
James Beauttah and Joseph Kang'ethe, was a political organisation in colonial
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
formed in 1924 to act on behalf of the
Kikuyu community by presenting their concerns to the
British government. One of its greatest grievances was the expropriation of the most productive land by British settlers from African farmers. Most of the members of the organisation were from the Kikuyu tribe.
The KCA was formed after the colonial government had banned the
Young Kikuyu Association founded by
Harry Thuku and the East African Association. In either 1925 or early 1926, Beauttah moved to Uganda but remained in contact with Kenyatta. When the KCA wrote to Beauttah and asked him to travel to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
as their representative, he declined but recommended for Kenyatta, who had a good command of the
English language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
, to go in his place. Kenyatta accepted, probably on the condition that the KCA match his existing wage. He thus became the group's secretary.
Jomo Kenyatta, later the first president of Kenya, joined it to become its General Secretary in 1927.
The KCA was banned in 1940, when the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
reached
East Africa. Some fighters of the later
Mau-Mau still understood their struggle as a continuation of the KCA and even called themselves KCA.
The end of the war, however, saw the new type of African organisation that went beyond tribal boundaries with the rise of the
Kenya African Union, which later became the
Kenya African National Union.
The KCA wanted the return of African land, the abolition of the ''
kipande'' system, the release of
Harry Thuku, the provision of quality education and the end of forced labour.
The KCA published the ''Muiguithania'' ("the reconciler"), a
Kikuyu-language newspaper that was also banned in 1940.
[SHIRAZ DURRANI]
NEVER BE SILENT: PUBLISHING & IMPERIALISM IN KENYA 1884 - 1963
See also
*
Campaign against female genital mutilation in Kenya, 1929-32
*
Taita Hills Association
References
''Muigwithania 2.0 - The original KCA publication banned by the colonial government revived on the Internet in 2008''
External links
1920s establishments in Kenya
1924 establishments in Africa
Political parties established in 1924
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