Kenya National Anthem

Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu

Written 1963

Adopted 1963

Lyrics Collective (Thomas Kalume et al.)

Music Collective

✝ God / Faith 🤝 Unity ☮ Peace 🕊 Freedom 🌾 Prosperity | Prayerful

Key Facts

1. Kenya's official account of the anthem calls the method completely new in Africa: it was the first time a group of local musicians had been given the task of preparing an anthem for the government to consider
2. The Swahili opening line, 'Ee Mungu nguvu yetu', means 'O God, our strength'; the English version, which is not a literal translation, opens with 'O God of all creation'
3. The melody is based on a traditional Pokomo lullaby, sung by mothers to their children

Kenya National Anthem Lyrics

Ee Mungu nguvu yetu Ilete baraka kwetu. Haki iwe ngao na mlinzi Natukae na undugu Amani na uhuru Raha tupate na ustawi Amkeni ndugu zetu Tufanye sote bidii Nasi tujitoe kwa nguvu Nchi yetu ya Kenya, Tunayoipenda Tuwe tayari kuilinda. Natujenge taifa letu Ee, ndio wajibu wetu Kenya istahili heshima Tuungane mikono Pamoja kazini Kila siku tuwe na shukrani.

Translations are non-official and intended to convey meaning, not replace originals

Analysis

Editorial

Prepared in the months before Kenya's independence on December 12, 1963, the anthem came not from a public competition but from a five-member commission headed by the Kenya Music Adviser, Graham Hyslop. The commission set out to provide words in both Swahili and English, taking great care that they would unite rather than divide the nation. At the suggestion of one of its members, the clergyman and music teacher Thomas Kalume, the anthem opens as a prayer.