Last modified: 2006-02-05 by bruce berry
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Bruce Berry sent me off-list the photo of the Kenyan presidential flag
in use that he referred few days ago. Based on it, I have prepared an image
(shown above).
The coat of arms is set in the center of the national flag replacing the
shield there. It is set on a black patch following the curvature of the Coat of
Arms, as it is clearly visible on the photo.
Željko Heimer, 13 Jul 2003
The recent presidential elections in Kenya resulted in the transfer of power to the opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki. A newspaper report from the inauguration ceremony, describes a new interim presidential flag. In its Tuesday, December 31, 2002 online edition, The East African Standard wrote:
"The Presidential Standard of the just-retired President Moi was lowered
and Kibaki's hoisted.
Former President Moi's Presidential Standard was green in colour, with
a shield in the middle and a cockerel next to it. The shield has national
colours.
In contrast, the new Presidential Standard (interim) flag is a brilliant
white in backdrop, and adorned with a shield in the middle,
bearing national colours and a coat of arms as well."
The full article can be accessed here: http://www.eastandard.net/headlines/news1012200217.htm
Jan Oskar Engene, 31 Dec 2002
image by Željko Heimer, 30 Mar 2002
Green flag with Masai shield, similar, but not the same as in the national
flag, and two golden spears in saltire pointed down, and in fly a red rooster.
Two main sources for this to me are Album
2000. and smi80, they differ
mainly in the look of the white stitching along the shield edges.
According to Armand Noël du Payrat, his version was approved by
Michel Lupant.
Source: Album 2000.
Željko Heimer, 30 Mar 2002
Smith gives more detail on
the symbolism of this flag:
"Jomo Kenyatta, the man who led Kenya to independence, also served
as its first president. His first name means "burning spear" -- hence the
spears on the presidential standard. Blue is for the skies over Kenya.
The cockerel here and in the national arms is a traditional herald of a
new and prosperous life, but it is also familiar to Kenyans as the emblem
of the Kenya African National Union."
By the time of the original 1978 edition of Barraclough
and Crampton's 1981 "Flags of the World" the standard's field colour
had changed:
"The Standard of the President is dark green, with a small version
of the shield crossed by two large assegais [sic] in the centre, and near
the fly edge a golden cockerel. The latter is the emblem of KANU."
Source: [bcr81], page 151.
However, Smith 1985 shows a medium
shade of green, certainly lighter than the bottom stripe of the national
flag, and the cockerel is *red* not golden. Since this is simply the Spanish,
updated edition of Smith 1980, I believe
the image was taken from this book.
Using Eugene Baldwin's image of the pre-1978 flag, I have made two
possible variations of the 1978 flag which I am sending separately:
Santiago Dotor, 23 February 2000
Three versions of the presidential flag have existed. The first was
the national flag with a black square in the centre, on which was the national
coat of arms. This was replaced by the blue flag:
An illustration of this flag is at [smi75b]
(page 247) and [ped70] (page 95). Ratio
2:3.
President Daniel Arap Moi changed the colour of the field to green
in September 1978. None of the presidential flags report any devices carried
by the cockerel.
Jaume Ollé, 28 February 1999
image by Santiago Dotor, 23 Feb 2000
About the 1978 assumed presidential flag, green with yellow rooster,
unless some firmer evidence is given, I am ready to assume that it is just
an erroneous report by Barraclough and Crampton.
Željko Heimer, 30 Mar 2002
There are several variations of this flag shown at FOTW (historical,
so not relevant in this context), but the shield details are different.
While I am more ready to believe the design shown in L'Album
(especially since very similar is shown in smi80
). I guess that a look into the matter might be worthwhile. In any case,
I am wondering about the "stitches" along the edge of the
shield - shouldn't they "go around" the shield edge?
Željko Heimer, 15 Jan 2001
My design was given by Michel Lupant
Armand du Payrat, 16 Jan 2001
image by Željko Heimer, 15 Apr 2002
Jaume Ollé sent me off-list an image scanned from some vex-bulletin
showing how the first presidential flag was recorded. Contrary to my supposition,
the square panel was indeed reaching in all fields. I have redrawn the image, adding the golden fringe which was also recorded on the
scanned image.
Željko Heimer, 15 Apr 2002
image
by Željko Heimer, 30 Mar 2002
There is nothing said about the size of the black square, but I assume that it was not bigger than
the red stripe, even if that yields rather
small emblem, a bigger square would not be esthetically pleasing.
Željko Heimer, 30 Mar 2002