Flag of Kenya

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Republic of Kenya
Flag of Kenya.svg
Use National flag, civil and state ensign FIAV 111110.svg FIAV normal.svg IFIS Vertical normal.svg
Proportion2:3
Adopted12 December 1963;60 years ago (1963-12-12)
DesignA horizontal tricolour of black, white-edged red, and green with two crossed white spears behind a red, white, and black Maasai shield
Kenyan flag at Lodwar Airport Turkana County, Lodwar Airport. Flight Fly540 before taking off.jpg
Kenyan flag at Lodwar Airport
Kenyan flags at the Kenyatta Mausoleum Kenyatta Mausoleum (1295043494).jpg
Kenyan flags at the Kenyatta Mausoleum

The flag of Kenya (Swahili : Bendera ya Kenya) is a tricolour of black, red, and green with two white edges imposed with a red, white and black Maasai shield and two crossed spears. The flag is based on that of Kenya African National Union and was officially adopted on 12 December 1963 after Kenya's independence. [1]

Contents

History

In the years following World War II, the Kenya African Union was created and introduced a flag in September 3, 1951 which was a black and red bicolour with a shield and arrow at it's center. The next year it was altered into a black, red and the additional green tricolor with a shield crossed with a spear and arrow coupled with the initials "KAU" at its center. The black stood for the native people, red for the common blood of all humanity and green for the nation's fertile land. The weapons were a reminder for the organized struggle that was the basis for independence. [1]

The black, red and green tricolor of the Kenya African Union with the shield crossed with a spear and arrow and the initials "KAU" in the middle EqoZOWBXUAA 5ZW.jpg
The black, red and green tricolor of the Kenya African Union with the shield crossed with a spear and arrow and the initials "KAU" in the middle

In the 1952 book Mau Mau from Within, Kenyatta's intentions were described differently: "What he said must mean that our fertile lands (green) could only be regained by the blood (red) of the African (black). The black was separated from the green by the red: The African could only get to his land through blood." The flag was later adopted by the Kenya African National Union (KANU), successor to the KAU, in May 1960 with the weapons being replaced with a rooster wielding a battle axe. The Kenya Africa Democratic Union (KADU) was formed a month after adopted a flag following it's formation in June 1960. It's flag was a tricolor of a similar design to that of KANU but with white instead of red in the middle.

The "Black over Red over Green" tricolour as devised by Jomo Kenyatta Flag of the Kenya African Union.svg
The "Black over Red over Green" tricolour as devised by Jomo Kenyatta
Possible flag of the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) based on the description KADU flag.svg
Possible flag of the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) based on the description

Some officials wanted to use the KANU flag as the national flag. This was influenced by Tanganyika and Uganda's choices to use the ruling party's flag as the national flag. Tom Mboya, one of Kenya's founding fathers, warned against using the KANU flag to avoid further politically polarizing the country. A committee came up with a compromise that everyone could agree on. This was achieved by combining the KANU flag and that of KADU with the addition the white fimbriations, which were originally to symbolize Kenya's multiracial society as they did in KADU's flag but were changed to symbolize peace and unity, a modified Maasai shield crossed with spears were also added. [2] [3] The meaning of the colours of the flag of Kenya matches closely to those of the Pan-African flag adopted by the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League in 1920. [3]

The flags that played a role in the creation of the Kenyan flag Timeline of the Kenyan flag.jpg
The flags that played a role in the creation of the Kenyan flag

The 2010 revised edition of the Constitution of Kenya includes specifications of the Kenyan flag, located in the Second Schedule, Article 9, paragraph 6.2. [4]

Symbolism

The Kenyan flag includes symbols of unity, peace, and defence of the country. The color black represents the country's African heritage, red represents the bloodshed during the fight for independence from the British colonialism, and green represents the country's landscape and natural wealth. The white fimbriation was added later to symbolise peace, honesty, purity, and innocence. The black, red, and white traditional African shield and two spears symbolise the defence of all the things mentioned above. Many of both colours and symbolic values are shared with the flag of South Sudan.

Design

The colours of the flag are specified in the Constitution in terms of British Standard 2660. [5]

ColorsHEXRGBCMYKBritish StandardSample
Black#0000000, 0, 00, 0, 0, 1000-E-53 (Black)
Red#922529146, 37, 410, 75, 72, 432660-0006 (Post-Office Red)
Green#008C510, 140, 81100, 0, 42, 452660-0010 (Paris/Vir. Green)
White#FFFFFF255, 255, 2550, 0, 0, 00-E-55 (White)

Variants

Historical presidential standards

Defense forces

Variants

Historical flags

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Kenya</span>

A part of Eastern Africa, the territory of what is known as Kenya has seen human habitation since the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic. The Bantu expansion from a West African centre of dispersal reached the area by the 1st millennium AD. With the borders of the modern state at the crossroads of the Bantu, Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic ethno-linguistic areas of Africa, Kenya is a multi-ethnic state. The Wanga Kingdom was formally established in the late 17th century. The Kingdom covered from the Jinja in Uganda to Naivasha in the East of Kenya. This is the first time the Wanga people and Luhya tribe were united and led by a centralized leader, a king, known as the Nabongo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenya African National Union</span> Political party in Kenya

The Kenya African National Union (KANU) is a Kenyan political party that ruled for nearly 40 years after Kenya's independence from British colonial rule in 1963 until its electoral loss in 2002. It was known as Kenya African Union (KAU) from 1944 but due to pressure from the colonial government, KAU changed its name to Kenya African Study Union (KASU) mainly because all political parties were banned in 1939 following the start of the Second World War. In 1946 KASU rebranded itself into KAU following the resignation of Harry Thuku as president due to internal differences between the moderates who wanted peaceful negotiations and the militants who wanted to use force, the latter forming the Aanake a forty, which later became the Mau Mau. His post was then occupied by James Gichuru, who stepped down for Jomo Kenyatta in 1947 as president of KAU. The KAU was banned by the colonial government from 1952 to 1960. It was re-established by James Gichuru in 1960 and renamed KANU on 14 May 1960 after a merger with Tom Mboya's Kenya Independence Movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jomo Kenyatta</span> President of Kenya from 1964 to 1978

Jomo Kenyatta was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first president and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic. Ideologically an African nationalist and a conservative, he led the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party from 1961 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kikuyu people</span> Ethnic group in Kenya

The Kikuyu are a Bantu ethnic group native to East Africa Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making them Kenya's largest ethnic group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-African flag</span> Flag using the Pan-African colours

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenya African Democratic Union</span> Political party in Kenya

The Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) was a political party in Kenya. It was founded in 1960 when several leading politicians refused to join Jomo Kenyatta's Kenya African National Union (KANU). It was led by Ronald Ngala who was joined by Moi's Kalenjin Political Alliance, the Masai United Front, the Kenya African Peoples Party, the Coast African Political Union, Masinde Muliro's Baluhya Political Union and the Somali National Front. The separate tribal organisations were to retain their identity and so, from the very start, KADU based its political approach on tribalism. KADU's aim was to defend the interests of the so-called KAMATUSA as well as the British settlers, against the imagined future dominance of the larger Luo and Kikuyu that comprised the majority of KANU's membership, when it became inevitable that Kenya will achieve its independence. The KADU objective was to work towards a multiracial self government within the existing colonial political system. After release of Jomo Kenyatta, KADU was becoming increasingly popular with European settlers and, on the whole, repudiated Kenyatta's leadership. KADU's plan at Lancaster meetings was devised by European supporters, essentially to protect prevailing British settlers land rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Malawi</span> National flag

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Mozambique</span> National flag

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Uganda</span> National flag

The flag of Uganda was adopted on 9 October 1962, the date that Uganda became independent from the British Empire. It consists of six equal horizontal bands of black (top), yellow, red, black, yellow, and red (bottom); a white disc is superimposed at the centre and depicts the national symbol, a grey crowned crane, facing the hoist's side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Botswana</span> Coat of arms

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenya African Union</span>

The Kenya African Union (KAU) was a political organization in colonial Kenya, formed in October 1944 prior to the appointment of the first African to sit in the Legislative Council. In 1960 it became the current Kenya African National Union (KANU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Mboya</span> Kenyan politician and independence activist (1930–1969)

Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya. He led the negotiations for independence at the Lancaster House Conferences and was instrumental in the formation of Kenya's independence party – the Kenya African National Union (KANU) – where he served as its first Secretary-General. He laid the foundation for Kenya's capitalist and mixed economy policies at the height of the Cold War and set up several of the country's key labour institutions. Mboya was Minister for Economic Planning and Development when he was assassinated.

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Clement Michael George Argwings-Kodhek, also known as Chiedo Moa Gem Argwings-Kodhek, was a Kenyan attorney and politician. He served in the government and cabinet of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, for six years, during which time he held the post of member of parliament for the Gem Constituency and the portfolios of Minister of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

References

  1. 1 2 "Flag of Kenya". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Trying to undo the political mischief on Kenya's flag". NATION. 17 December 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 1 2 "The History of the Red, Black, and Yellow". Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  4. "Laws of Kenya". Archived from the original on 25 December 2019.
  5. Second Schedule of Kenyan Consitution

Sources