<P> On 20 October 1952 , Governor Baring signed an order declaring a State of Emergency . Early the next morning , Operation Jock Scott was launched : the British carried out a mass - arrest of Jomo Kenyatta and 180 other alleged Mau Mau leaders within Nairobi . Jock Scott did not decapitate the movement 's leadership as hoped , since news of the impending operation was leaked . Thus , while the moderates on the wanted list awaited capture , the real militants , such as Dedan Kimathi and Stanley Mathenge ( both later principal leaders of Mau Mau 's forest armies ) , fled to the forests . </P>
<P> On 20 October 1952 , Governor Baring signed an order declaring a State of Emergency . Early the next morning , Operation Jock Scott was launched : the British carried out a mass - arrest of Jomo Kenyatta and 180 other alleged Mau Mau leaders within Nairobi . Jock Scott did not decapitate the movement 's leadership as hoped , since news of the impending operation was leaked . Thus , while the moderates on the wanted list awaited capture , the real militants , such as Dedan Kimathi and Stanley Mathenge ( both later principal leaders of Mau Mau 's forest armies ) , fled to the forests . </P>
when was state of emergency declared in kenya
when was state of emergency declared in kenya
20 October 1952
20 October 1952