Kikuyu Central Association

Political organisation in Kenya

Central Kenya

Key people

James Beauttah, Joseph Kang'ethe, Jomo Kenyatta, Henry MuoriaPublicationMuigwithania

The Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), led by James Beauttah and Joseph Kang'ethe, was a political organisation in colonial Kenya formed in 1924 to act on behalf of the Gĩkũyũ 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 members of the organisation were from the Gĩkũyũ tribe.

KCA was formed after the colonial government banned the earlier Young Kikuyu Association founded by Harry Thuku and the East African Association. In either 1925 or early 1926, Beauttah moved to Uganda, although remained in contact with Kenyatta. When the KCA wrote to Beauttah and asked him to travel to London as their representative, he declined but recommended that Kenyatta who had a good command of the English language go in his place. Kenyatta accepted, probably on the condition that the Association matched his pre-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 Kikuyu Central Association was banned in 1940 when World War II reached East Africa. Some fighters of the later Mau-Mau still understood their struggle as a continuation of KCA and even called themselves KCA. WAZI BUDA

The end of World War II, however, saw the new type of African organisation that went beyond tribal boundaries with the rise of the Kenya African Union that later became KANU. Reasons for formation of KCA: 1)return of African Land 2)abolition of Kipande system 3)release of Harry Thuku 4)provision of quality education 5)end forced labour

KCA published the Muiguithania ("the reconciler"), a Kikuyu language newspaper. It was banned alongside KCA in 1940.^[1]