Collectivism, Virtue and Human Rights in the Political Philosophy of Jomo Kenyatta

Abstract

The political philosophy of Jomo Kenyatta, who is the first President of Kenya and a prominent figure in the Pan-African movement, has been the subject of several academic debates and discourses in the past decades. While Jomo Kenyatta is often remembered for his famous statement, “in the onset of freedom, it is our duty to build a new nation that is strong, united and secure”. His philosophy, therefore,focuses more on freedom and the duty of nation building. Jomo Kenyatta’s thoughts focuses heavily on self-determination and the potential of African nations to become fully self-reliant.His concept of self-determination are rooted in the belief in African unity. This makes a connection between his thought and Pan-African movement with its emphasis on collective rather than individual power. This paper presented the path set by Jomo Kenyatta for the achievement of African self-determination, which involves gaining full autonomy economically and politically. The researchers adoptedthe expository and qualitative methods of research for the understanding and presentation of Kenyatta’s thoughts. The theory of collectivism was adopted as the theoretical framework for the interpretation and understanding of the thoughts of Jomo Kenyatta. The paper shows that the thoughts of Kenyatta, among others, is at the base of the present developments in Pan-Africanism.