Barack Obama
(U.S. Senator with Kenyan roots)

* Born: 4 August 1961
* Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii
* Best Known As: U.S. senator and 2008 Democratic candidate for president

Barack Obama is a U.S. senator from Illinois and the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in 2008. Obama has spoken often of his multicultural background: his father was from Kenya, his mother from Kansas, and they met at the University of Hawaii. After his parents divorced and his father returned to Africa, Obama stayed with his mother and was raised in Indonesia and Hawaii. He earned an undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1983 and a law degree from Harvard in 1991. He then joined the Chicago law firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, which specialized in civil rights legislation. He also lectured at the University of Chicago. He was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, and then to the U.S. Senate in 2004, beating Republican candidate Alan Keyes. Obama shot to national fame after delivering the keynote speech in support of John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic national convention. The speech established Obama as a rising star in the party. Obama announced in February of 2007 that he would run for president in 2008; he became the presumptive Democratic Party nominee in June of 2008 when his last opponent, Hillary Clinton, dropped from the race. He published the personal memoir Dreams from My Father in 1995, and published a second book, The Audacity of Hope, in 2006. The title of the latter book was also the title of his 2004 keynote speech, and both books won Grammys for best spoken word album.

J M Kariuki
(March 21, 1929–March 2, 1975)

was a Kenyan socialist politician during the administration of the Jomo Kenyatta government. He held different government positions from 1963, when Kenya became an independent country, to 1975, when he was assassinated. He left behind three wives and a string of children.

Famous Quotes by JM

• "Kenya has become a nation of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars.”
• "Every Kenyan man, woman and child is entitled to a decent and just living. That is a birthright. It is not a privilege. He is entitled as far as is humanly possible to equal educational, job and health opportunities irrespective of his parentage, race or creed or his area of origin in this land. If that is so, deliberate efforts should be made to eliminate all obstacles that today stand in the way of this just goal. That is the primary task of the machinery called Government: our Government."
• "We fought for independence with sweat, blood and our lives. Many of us suffered for inordinate days – directly and indirectly. Many of us are orphans, widows and children as a result of the struggle. We must ask: What did we suffer for, and were we justified in that suffering?"

Wangari Maathai                                                                                                  top
( Activist / Political Figure)

* Born: 1 April 1940
* Birthplace: Nyeri, Kenya
* Best Known As: The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize

Ecologist Wangari Maathai won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her years of work with women to reverse African deforestation. Maathai went to college in the United States, earning degrees from Mt. St. Scholastica College (1964) and the University of Pittsburgh (1966). She returned to Kenya and earned her PhD. from the University of Nairobi (1971), then worked as a professor in their department of veterinary medicine. Maathai began the Green Belt Movement, a tree-planting program to reverse deforestation and provide firewood for Kenyan women. The program led to the planting of millions of trees and Maathai became a major political figure in Kenya. In 1997 she ran unsuccessfully for president and for a seat in Parliament, but in December of 2002 she was elected to Parliament, and in 2003 she was appointed by President Mwai Kibabi to the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, with the Nobel committee citing "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." She was the first African woman to win a Nobel.

Not long after winning the Nobel Prize, Maathai made headlines with the controversial suggestion that AIDS may have been a man-made biological agent. She later backtracked a bit, saying "I neither say nor believe that the virus was developed by white people or white powers in order to destroy the African people. Such views are wicked and destructive."

Koitalel Arap Samoei
A Nandi leader and an orkoiyot, a diviner. He detested the invasion of the British into the Nandi territory while building the Kenya-Uganda Railway. He prophesied that a black snake would tear through Nandiland and it would be spitting fire and would make its way into peoples' life. The construction of the railway saw this as a fulfilment of this prophecy. 

He led the Nandi people into a fight against the builders of the Railway line for ten years. The British were determined to build the railway line and they tricked the orkoiyot into a meeting for an agreement, where a British commander shot Samoei and killed him during the conference. Without a leader, the Nandi were finally defeated in 1905 and the construction of the railway line continued without resistance. 

Mekatilili Wa Menza
Mekatilili led the Giriama people in a rebellion against the British, in what many had seen as a fulfilment of a prophecy, that she would be a leader of her people. This was a rare prophecy in a patriarchal community. She resisted British invasions and attempts to stamp out the Giriama traditional culture through the destruction of kaya, sacred forest shrines and places of worship. 

She was then captured and exiled to Mumias in Western Kenya, where she was held together with Wanyi wa Madori her cousin. Five years later, she returned to the coast. Her inspiring story has been told by the modern woman to re-assert the woman's place in Kenya's history and destiny. 

Lugard and his men harassed the Gikuyu people and demanded for their food and their women. In retaliation the Kikuyu burnt down Lugard's fortress at Dagoretti. In 1892, the colonial administration kidnapped and took him to Coast where he is believed to have met his death. He was buried alive by his abductors. Bones believed to be his have been discovered after many years. 

Dedan Kimathi
He was the high priest of the Mau Mau movement, and the mention of his name spread fear among the settler community. At the height of the ongoing struggle for independence, he commanded thousands of fighters along the Aberdares. Kimathi became a cultic figure and his fame spread like bushfire. 

An amount of sh. 10,000 reward was placed for whoever found him. He was eventually captured in October, 1956. He was sentenced to death by hanging and his remains are buried in an unmarked grave at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison. 

Harry Thuku
He was born in Kiambu, educated at mission schools and then employed by the colonial government. In 1921, he founded the Young Kikuyu Association to protest against alienation of land, forced labour, taxation, low wages and the kipande laws. In 1922 he was arrested after being declared 'dangerous to peace and good order' and was detained for nine years. After his release he joined KAU (Kenya African Union) in 1944 and later joined KANU (Kenya African National Union) in 1960. He died in 1970. 

Mzee Jomo Kenyatta                                                                                            top
Kenyatta was born in 1893, in Kiambu and was originally called Kamau wa Ngengi. He later changed his name to Johnstone Kamau when he was baptized. He joined a Mission in Thogoto in 1909. In 1928, he became the Secretary General of Kikuyu Central Association, (KCA).

He became the editor of Muigwithania from its beginning in 1929, which articulated the social issues of the Gikuyu before he got a job with the Nairobi City Council. In 1927, KCA sent Kenyatta to London to represent them in airing their land grievances. He made a brief return to Kenya in 1931 and stayed in Britain until 1946, during which he studied Anthropology and got married. He joined the Pan Africanists who pressed for Africa's independence. 

In 1946, he returned and took leadership of Kenya African Study Union (KASU), the precursor of Kenya African Union. In October 20, 1952, Kenyatta and other nationalists were arrested for administering oaths and leading Mau Mau, which was an illegal movement. He was then sentenced to seven years imprisonment and released in 1961. He became the Prime Minister of independent Kenya and the first President of the Republic of Kenya until his death in 1978. 

Ronald Ngala
He hailed from Kilifi and was a student of Alliance High School and Makerere University. He became a teacher, although his interest was in politics and as result founded the Mijikenda Union in 1947. In 1957, he was elected as a member of Coast and in 1960, helped found the Kenya African Democratic Union, KADU. 

In 1964, KADU and KANU merged and Ronald Ngala was appointed a minister where he served his country until his tragic death in a road accident in 1972. 

After a disagreement with KANU, he formed his own party in 1967, Kenya People's Union (KPU). It was banned in 1969 and Oginga was detained.

James Gichuru
He was born in 1914 at Thogoto, Kiambu. He was educated at a mission school and Makerere College. In 1934, he qualified as a teacher and later ended his teaching career as a Headmaster when he became active in politics. He was one of the founders and the first president of KAU and in 1946, he stepped down from this post for Mzee Kenyatta. 

During the State of emergency he was restricted at Githunguri from 1955 to 1960. After the restriction was lifted he joined politics again and helped found KANU, of which he was again the first president. He served as a government minister from 1962 until his death in 1982. 

Daniel Arap Moi                                                                                                    top
Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi was born in Baringo District in 1924. He studied at Kabartonjo, Kapsabet and the Government African School at Kabarnet. He then followed a teaching career, becoming the Headmaster of Tambach Primary School and Assistant Principal of Tambach Teachers Training College. In 1955, he joined politics and became a member of the Legislative Council. In 1957, he was chosen as a Legco member for Rift Valley. 

Daniel Moi became a member of Kenya's first Republican Cabinet in 1964. In 1967, he became the Vice-President and Minister of Home Affairs where he served until the death of Mzee Kenyatta. He was elected President in 1978 and since then he has led Kenya's development in the light of the Nyayo philosophy of peace, love and unity. 

He was a keen trade unionist and a member of KAU until it was banned. By October 1953, he became the Secretary General of the Kenya Federation of Registered Trade Unions, KFRTU, which later became the Kenya Federation of Labour in 1955. 

He was elected as member of Legco for Nairobi in 1957. In 1960, he helped to found KANU and became its Secretary General. He was Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in the first KANU government and later became Minister of Economic Planning. He was assassinated in 1969 by a gunman outside a shop on Nairobi's Government Road, now Moi Avenue. 

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