KANU

Political party founded in 1944 and led by Jomo Kenyatta from 1947, when it was the Kenya African Union (KAU); it became KANU on independence in 1964. The party formed Kenyatta's political power base in 1963 when he became prime minister; in 1964 he became the first president of Kenya. KANU was the sole political party 1982–91. It secured an overwhelming majority in multiparty elections in 1993, but opposition parties disputed the results and their claims of malpractices were partly supported by independent Commonwealth observers.