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11UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
CITATION ON
DR. JULIUS GIKONYO KIANO
ON HIS CONFERMENT OF
THE HONORARY DOCTOR OF LETTERS
(D~L1n.)
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI.
AT
NAIROBI, KENYA
ON
1ST DECEMBER, 1997
I!' j0
.::C
6
..... ~'~~q
UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
CITATION ON
DR. JULIUS GIKONYO KIANO
ON HIS CONFERMENT OF
THE HONORARY DOCTOR OF LETTERS
(D.LlTT.)
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
AT
NAIROBI, KENYA
ON
1ST DECEMBER, 1997
3
CITATION ON
DR. JULIUS GIKONYO KIANO
B.A. (Antioch), M.A. (Stanford) 'Ph.D. (California, Berkeley),, " I
Dr. Julius Gikonyo Kiano is a perfect blend of anintellectual and a professional politician. Julius CikonyoKiano was born in June, 1926 in Garhiga Village,Kanyenyaini Location, Murang'a District (then Fort HallDistrict) of Central Province. His parents Jonathan Kianoand Damaris Wanjiru Kiano, like many African ruralfamilies at the time were not rich. Jonathan was 'aninformal trader having worked for missionaries' inNairobi and converting to Christianity.' But heappreciated the value of education for his children. SoJulius wentto school at the early age of eight.'He .quicklydistinguished himself as a brilliant student and it hasbeen that intellectual brilliance that has carried himthrough.
[ulius Gikonyo Kiano went to African GcvernmentSchoof Kagumo in 1939. He was admitted 'to theprestigious Alliance High School in -1942.In Alliance heperfotrned very' weli and passed. 'H'e'waS' adinitted toMakerereUniversity College; though Hewas'reluctant
4
~Sh~ had already made up his mind that he must studyfor a degree and not a diploma which was the highestqualification Makerere could offer. However, heeventually went to Makerere on the advice of Mr. MbiyuKoinange and Mr. James Gichuru (former CabinetMinisters) whom he met at Githunguri Teachers TrainingCollege where he taught for two months.
At Alliance he continued his scouting hobby which hehad started at Kagumo and became secretary to theschool troop. More pertinent he became the SchoolLibrarian in his final year, 1945 and edi tor of the Saturda yevening paper which was a hand written weekly by thestudents. This role of editor opened up a new aspect inhis life: political interest. It is at this time that Mr. EliudMathu, Dr. Kiano's teacher at Alliance was appointed torepresent Africans at the Legislative Council (Legco)alongside Rev. Leonard Beecher. As the edi tor of thestudent paper Julius questioned the validity of a whiteman's representation of African interests in the LEGCO.He was nearly kicked out of Alliance.
In Makerere, he constantly yearned for a universitydegree and read biographies of em ine n t AfricanAmericans who had made it in academia and public lifelike Dr. Aggrey and Booker T. Washington. He also readCrisis, a magazine published by the National Association
s. for the Advancement of Coloured People in America
, ; r t > ,» " ''-r' l- rl.~ I _ ,,:rj''!'" r < ':' "-;J-' r- ';:~' t ,j;.;ll'"1 --:--.
', (N'AACP) -Which carried addresses of Black colleges in, . .
the U.s.A. He applied and was admitted at PioneerBusiness Institute in Philadelphia. But he had no money.
, .'
It was then that for the first time a Harambee wasorganized in this country for purely educationalpurposes. The Kenya African Traders and Partners. -'Association (KAFTA) led by Mr. Mwaura Ngoima andMr. Charles Rubia, and others raised the money.
From that time, Dr. Gikonyo Kiano became a staunchbeliever in Harambee, especially for educationalpurposes and has tirelessly worked throughout his lifeto open up opportunities for further education forKenyan young people. His commi tment to the promotionof education is a lifelong undertaking because as he says:-"I was a product of the early events of Harambee".
Julius joined Pioneer Institute in 1948, and then shortlythereafter, Stores College in West Virginia. The. followingyear he got a scholarship to Antioch College, Ohio, wherehe obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Economics andPoli tical Science in 1952.
Before he left Kenya for the U.s.A., Dr. Gikonyo Kianohad heard a word of advice from a senior Kenyan scholar- Mr. Mbiyu Koinange, the first Kenyan to .get an M.A.
q"r,s\~gfti~.¥,:r,'JMti"l}'lng~·rW,~4.J9"~Oj(~l}M.j;,hi~,~~ gR!ng)'0rrg~tl~;~~gr~ h~rp~llgge,t~,;~cr~p·:,~c,a":ls,~ih~~lf9!~~~~gr~1~!.~~~Fi:YAa8,cJ~M~~~er~~AegnW!f,L'.:':.;'" ".:] c. ;;', .•,: 'Jd I
.\r~)::n~-~~~):r::,',,";:~ "[~C"."'._, •. ~" :\--; ..•. "1(,,
.,At Antioch, the student work programme led him intoc G # I _~ , .~
f ,the UN system where he worked in the Trusteeshipi t"J ,! . ,
Commission dealing with colonies all over the world.-:! ~ ;, -' -, '. <:
( The Head of Departmen tat the U,N. was none other than1,:'\ ,', . .:' _.' :
Dr. Ralph Bunche who went on to become the UnderSecretary of the United Nations and a winner of the Nobel
(1p,eacePrize. pro Kiano together with others wouldlateri establish a schoolin honour of Dr. Bundle.:;: \' • i " J
.~Thanks to his academic excellence, Juli us won uni versi ty1C t -, ; .. ',' .," >'... •
honours fellowship to Stanford University, California forI' ;(~ , ,; 1. __< -, " , ! ~, • • •
a Master's degree in political science and public·'~d~inls~ration. From Stanford he went to the prestigiousUniversity of Caiifornia at Berkeley where he 'ta~ght' as
" he worked on his Ph.D., which he obtained in 1956. Thus1,' . .' , ' "
~)le became the first Kenyan to get a Ph.D. His.doctoral,~" "~ . .
"thesjs was critical of the idea of a Central and Eastern~ > •••. ..,
<-fed~ration which he argued was a delaying tactic for the1\/" .
independence of the African countries concerned and atool for the continued European domination of the region.
I .This showed that Dr. Kiano was already politically alert.:.Indeed, he spent much of his spare time explaining to-groups in the U.s. that the Mau Mau uprising which had
,
broker; ,qutJn Kenya ~a?not a tribal l,lpr!sing,l?ut?'a '.: ..1 . ',' " " D' ('0.' t}1 '1-"(")""1 '~'," '-'1'y! ~" 1,,"~)I ~If-\'
~trgg~~;,~f.ir,}n~~R~~deJ~!~~1:;r.h~~i?t4~~~~,,~;?_~~~~~t[~~p.with the British Counsul-General in Lalifornia:' '.~.," .,:' '-;':' "( ~~:· r: f ""~.1,. :r. 1- " •.:~ ~.: ::0(,'/ - •.•.•. '- (.1': : -::.~ -~.;.~(n("-'" ~<~
On his return horne, though armed with a Ph:O., he washot employed at the then Royal Technical College, thepredecessor or this University until his cousin Mr.Muchohi Cikonyo who was a politician personallyconfronted the Governor Sir Evalyn Baring, Thismadehim the first African lecturer in what was to become the. ~ ~University of Nairobi. Even after employment, the
.problem of where his children would go to school in aracially segregated Kenya came up. 'It was then th~t Dr.Kiano and other uncategorised st,\f~ on the C~lIege' gottogether to establish Hospital Hill Primary School. Today,the school is one of the best schools in Nairobi.
Julius taught economics and constitutional law, However,,,., <. •
, he soo,n plunged into the politics of the liberation of thiscountry when in 1958 he was elected to the U~gislative'Council defeating his former teacher Mr. Eliud Mathu.His campaign' platform was simple: ';The British mustgo, it is time for tot~l independence".
As a Member of Parliament, he travelled a lot. In one ofthose visits abroad he met Senator J.F. Kennedy,Chairman of the Senate Sub-Committee on Africa And
,
8t ~ idea of helping young Africans gO)P the _U.S.A'.for
-:1tl~'th~t~t~~i~~tc~m~~pl.Se~~'t~/'Ke~~ed~:who'~~~,to, .,! '. • ,
become U.S. President was enthusiastic about it. The seedof the "airlifts" had been sown. Dr. Kiano advised Mr.Tom Mboya to take up the issue with Kennedy. It worked.Dr. Kiano also met Dr. Martin Luther King and broachedthe idea. Dr. Martin Luther King gave Dr. Kiano six
.scholarships right away for Kenyan youths.
From 1960 to 1979, Dr. Julius Gikonyo Kiano was steadilyelected to Parliament and held many ministerialportfolios. He was instrumental in bringing UNCTAD,IVto Kenya in 1974 and he also signed the first expandedLome Convention in 1975 on behalf of Kenya as theMinister of Commerce and Industry.
In 1993, Dr. Kiano was a founder member of the KenyaUnited States Association whose main objective is topromote educational opportunities for Kenyans apartfrom, of course, also promoting business linkages. He isthe current Chairman of the Association. He is the localChairman of an ad-hoc committee which is looking into aformal institutional framework between KenyanUniversities (both public and private) and the New YorkUniversity System.
Dr. Kiano has occasionally given lively lectures
· :'. -.".' '( ". • -....i . ~"?Jto students in this University. He is currently a member
I .
of this University's Council, and until about two weeksago, he was the Chairman of Kenya BroadcastingCorporation.
The above shows that Dr. Kiano has made outstandingcontribution to the development of this nation and weare proud to honour him with the degree of Doctor ofLetters (honoris causa).
