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Why did the East Africa Association seek the return of Kikuyu land?

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Jomo Kenyatta African statesman and nationalist Jomo Kenyatta was the first prime minister (1963–64) and then the first president (1964–78) of independent Kenya.

The East Africa Association (EAA) sought the return of Kikuyu land because the indigenous population had been dispossessed following the establishment of Kenya as a British crown colony in 1920.1

As part of the colonial administration's policies, leaseholds of land were restricted to white settlers, and native reservations were established, effectively displacing the Kikuyu from their traditional territories. This loss of land, alongside grievances regarding low wages and the prohibition of African coffee cultivation, served as a primary motivation for the EAA’s political agitation against the white-settler-dominated government.12