In the trivia section of the IMDb profile of the film Sanders of the River (1935) lies this nugget “Jomo Kenyatta, who was President of Kenya from 1963 to 1978, had a bit part in this movie as a tribal chief.” It was a 6-minute role he never talked about, and with good reason.
Although the only thing that still bears his name in Nairobi today is a public park, Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee’s (AMJ) story is closely interwoven with the story of Nairobi’s beginnings. Jeevanjee was a businessman, politician, and philanthropist all packed into one stocky, curious, and illustrious immigrant who made Kenya his home.