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| 3. Kenya |
| 1960 |
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| A constitution leading to independence was put in place, and the Kenyan African National Union (KANU), led by Oginga Odinga, Tom Mboya, and Daniel arap Moi, became the leading party. Moi, however, left KANU to form the Kenyan African Democratic Union (KADU), a party to represent smaller Kenyan ethnic groups distinct from the large Luo and Kikuyu blocs that supported KANU. | 1 |
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| 1961, Aug |
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| Jomo Kenyatta was released from detention and assumed the leadership of KANU. | 2 |
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| 1963, Dec. 12 |
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| Kenya became independent following May elections won by KANU. | 3 |
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| 1964 |
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| Kenyatta brought Moi back into the KANU fold, and KADU was dissolved. | 4 |
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| 1966 |
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| Kenyan vice president Oginga Odinga and 30 other KANU members of Parliament left KANU to form a leftist opposition party, the Kenyan People's Union (KPU). Moi then became vice president. | 5 |
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| 1969, July 5 |
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| Kenyan labor leader and politician Tom Mboya was assassinated; this fueled ethnic conflict as Mboya, a Luo, had been killed by a Kikuyu. The resulting unrest led to the banning of opposition KPU and the detention of Odinga. | 6 |
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| 1970–80 |
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| Kenya's government became increasingly authoritarian and repressive while its foreign policy was pro-Western. | 7 |
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| 1975, March |
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| Member of Parliament and former Mau Mau detainee J. M. Kariuki, who had challenged corruption and wealth accumulation by the powerful elite, was assassinated, signaling a more class-oriented politics. | 8 |
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| 1978, Aug. 23 |
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| Kenyatta died. Moi became president and brought more non-Kikuyus into government, but otherwise continued the previous regime's policies. | 9 |
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| 1982, May |
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| Kenya became a one-party state following the second expulsion of Odinga from KANU. | 10 |
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| Aug. 1 |
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| An attempted coup by air force junior officers failed. | 11 |
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