The British Government through British Secretary of State for colonies Duncan Dundies initiated the plan to give three special gifts to Kenya months before it gained independence.
Documents retrieved from the former colonial office indicate that the gifts included a silver gilt table centerpiece and a bookcase for Parliament.
Royal Lodge Sagana which was initially Queen Elizabeth's gift from her father King George VI was among the independence gifts accorded to Kenya.
It was a Britain tradition that, whenever a country gained independence and became a member of Commonwealth, gifts should be granted from British Government and the House of Commons.
The House of Commons which usually gave young commonwealth nations gifts in the form of a Speaker’s chair or a mace, gave Kenya a bookcase containing Constitution and parliamentary works.
[caption caption="File image of a silver gilt centrepiece"]
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Jomo Kenyatta,who was the then Prime Minister approved the proposed gifts with gratitude and pleasure after being consulted with the then Governor General Sir Malcolm MacDonald.
Queen Elizabeth decided to give the Sagana lodge which was a wedding gift from the father as she rarely used the lodge and had only been there once in 1952.
Interestingly, Mzee Kenyatta was reluctant to accept the Queen's offer of Sagana Lodge as “the people of Kenya knew with pleasure that the house had been a gift to the Queen.”
It was finally agreed that the Sagana lodge would be set aside for the entertainment of special government guests and a haven for members of the royal family whenever they visited Kenya.
[caption caption="former British High Commissioner to Kenya Malcolm Macdonald"]
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The other gifts which weighed 11kg were presented to Kenyatta on February 4, 1966, in the presence of Charles Njonjo by Sir MacDonald, then British High Commissioner to Kenya.
Kenya also received a 400-year-old amour suit (originally worn by an ancient samurai warrior from Japan, Senate speaker’s chair from India, radio receivers from the Soviet Union, twenty-four 2.5 lorries from America among other gifts.
