 | |
| Use | National flag, civil and state ensign    |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 2:3 |
| Adopted | 12 December 1963; 60 years ago (1963-12-12) |
| Design | A horizontal tricolour of black, white-edged red, and green with two crossed white spears behind a red, white, and black Maasai shield |
| Designed by | Jomo Kenyatta |
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]
In the years following World War II, the Kenya African Union was created and introduced a flag on September 3, 1951, which was a black and red bicolour with a shield and arrow at its 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]
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 its formation in June 1960. Its flag was a tricolor of a similar design to that of KANU but with white instead of red in the middle.
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 set up by Jomo Kenyatta came up with a compromise that everyone could agree on. This was achieved by combining flags of the two rivaling parties, 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, reminiscent to the original KAU flag, 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 2010 revised edition of the Constitution of Kenya includes specifications of the Kenyan flag, located in the Second Schedule, Article 9, paragraph 6.2.[5]
The Kenyan flag includes symbols of unity, peace, and defence of the country. The color black represents the African continent, 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.
The colours of the flag are specified in the Constitution in terms of British Standard 2660.[6]
| Colors | HEX | RGB | CMYK | British Standard | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | #000000 | 0, 0, 0 | 0, 0, 0, 100 | 0-E-53 (Black) | |
| Red | #922529 | 146, 37, 41 | 0, 75, 72, 43 | 2660-0006 (Post-Office Red) | |
| Green | #008C51 | 0, 140, 81 | 100, 0, 42, 45 | 2660-0010 (Paris/Vir. Green) | |
| White | #FFFFFF | 255, 255, 255 | 0, 0, 0, 0 | 0-E-55 (White) |
Imperial British East Africa Company (1888–1895)
East Africa Protectorate (1895–1921)
Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1921–1963)
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