Glossary

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Kadirgamar -  Lakshman Kadirgamar (1932-2005). Sri Lankan politician and diplomat. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs 1994-2001, and 2004-2005. In 2003, he stood for the position of Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, but was defeated in a vote by Don McKinnon.
Kagame -  Paul Kagame (b. 1957). President of Rwanda (2000-).
Kaiser Matanzima -  Kaiser Matanzima (1915-2003). State President of the Transkei, one of the TBVC states, 1979-86.
Kallicharran -  Alvin Isaac Kallicharran (b.1949) is a West Indian cricketer who was active from 1972 to 1981. Kallicharran was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, and in 1977-78 served as Captain of the West Indies cricket team.
Kamal Nath -  Kamal Nath (b.1946) is an Indian politician who has served in several Ministerial appointments including Minister for Urban Development (2014), Minister for Road Transport and Highways (2012-14) and Minister for Commerce and Industry (2009-11). He was General Secretary of the Indian National Congress from 2004 to 2009. He has represented the Chhindwara constituency as MP since 1980.
Kamalesh Sharma -  Kamalesh Sharma (b. 1941). Indian diplomat, Commonwealth Secretary-General from 2008-2016.
Kamil Jaafar -  Tan Sri Datuk Kamil Jaafar (b.1937) is a Malaysian diplomat who served as his country’s Ambassador to Thailand (1975), Vietnam (1978), Switzerland (1980), China (1983) and Japan (1986). He was Secretary General of the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1996.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar -  Kamla Persad-Bissessar (b.1952) is a politician in Trinidad and Tobago who was elected Prime Minister of her country in 2010. Persad-Bissessar is the political leader of the United National Congress, and in 2001 served as Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago.
- Synonyms: Kamla Persad
Kampala Agenda -  Principles intended to promote democratic local government in Africa, agreed in 2006 under the auspices of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.
KANU -  Kenya African National Union. A Kenyan political party founded in 1960, that took power on Kenyan independence in 1963.
Karamanlis -  Konstantinos Karamanlis (1907-1998) was a major figure in twentieth-century Greek politics, acting as Prime Minister four times (1955-58, 58-61, 61-63 and 74-80) and President twice (80-85, 90-95). He was associated with the right-wing conservative National Radical Union party and the New Democracy party.
Karen Brewer -  Dr Karen Brewer is a British lawyer who has served as Secretary General of the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association (CMJA) since 1998. She was involved in the drafting of the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles and has led the CMJA in advocating for judicial independence across the Commonwealth. Brewer previously worked for the Law Society of England and Wales where she was involved in the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (1987-98).
Kariba Dam -  The Kariba Dam is a hydroelectric dam that sits in the Kariba Gorge between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam was proposed by the Central African Federation and construction began in 1955. It was completed in 1977.
Karminder Singh Dhillon -  Karminder Singh Dhillon was a Malaysian diplomat who served his country in the Prime Minister’s Department, the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, and as Principal Assistant Secretary, Policy Division, Ministry of Defence. He is the author of Malaysian Foreign Policy in the Mahathir Era, 1981-2003 (NUS Press, 2009).
Kashmir issue -  The long-running dispute between India and Pakistan over control of Kashmir, a region divided during the Partition of India in 1947.
Kategaya -  Eriya Kategaya (1945-2013) was a Ugandan lawyer and politician who was a key figure in Yoweri Museveni’s faction toppling both Idi Amin (1979) and subsequently Milton Obote (1985). He served as National Political Commissar and Minister of Internal Affairs under Museveni as President.
Kempton Park -  City near Johannesburg, South Africa. Venue for multi-party Convention for a Democratic South Africa negotiations for the ending of apartheid, held in 1991.
Ken Matiba -  Ken Matiba (b. 1942). Kenyan politician, second in the 1992 presidential election.
Ken Saro-Wiwa -  Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995). Nigerian writer and political and environmental activist. An outspoken critic of the regime of General Sani Abacha, and Royal Dutch Shell’s environmental pollution in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, Saro Wiwa was executed on 10 November 1995. Eight other MOSOP activists were hanged.
Kenneth Kaunda -  Kenneth Kaunda (b.1924). Zambian politician and President (1964-1991).
Kenneth Roberts-Way -  Sir Kenneth Owen Roberts-Wray (1899-1993) was a British legal adviser who spent his career working with the Colonial Office and Commonwealth Relations Office. He is the author of The Commonwealth and Colonial Law (1966).
Kenneth Stuart -  Professor Sir Kenneth Stuart (b.1920) is a physician who served as Medical Adviser to the Commonwealth Secretariat and Professor and Head of Department of Medicine, University of the West Indies.
Kent Durr -  Kent Durr (b.1941) is a South African political figure and diplomat who served as his country’s Ambassador (1991-94) and subsequently High Commissioner (1994-95) to the United Kingdom. Durr had been Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism in the Cabinet of FW de Klerk (1989-91) but was later associated with the African Christian Democratic Party, with whom he was re-elected to the House of Assembly in 2004.
Kevin Rudd -  Kevin Rudd, b.1957, was twice Prime Minister of Australia (2007-10, 2013), leading a Labor Party government. He has also acted as Minister for Foreign Affairs (2010-12) under the leadership of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Khaleda Zia -  Begum Khaleda Zia (b.1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), an organisation founded by her husband Ziaur Rahman in the late 1970s.
Kihumbu Thairu -  Dr Kihumbu Thairu is a Kenyan medical professional and educational specialist who served as Medical Adviser and Director of the Health Programme in the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1984 to 1994. He was also Chairman of the Human Resources Development Group in the Secretariat from 1992 to 1993.
Kikuyu -  A Bantu people, the largest ethnic group in Kenya.
King Charles Street -  King Charles Street is a central London thoroughfare, home of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
King Goodwill -  Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu (b. 1948). King of the Zulu Nation (1968-).
Kingman Brewster -  Kingman Brewster, Jr., (1919-1988) was an American diplomat and educator who served as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1977 to 1981. He was previously President of Yale University (1963-77).
Kisumu -  A city in the west of Kenya.
Koevoet -  A South African paramilitary police unit that was active in Namibia, formed in 1978 and disbanded in 1989.
Kofi Annan -  Kofi Atta Annan (b. 1938). Ghanaian diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations 1997-2006.
Kofi Busia -  Kofi Abrefa Busia (1913-1978) was a Ghanaian politician who served as Prime Minister of Ghana’s Second Republic from 1969 to 1972. As leader of the Ghana Congress Party and then the United Party in the 1950s, he was a major oppositional voice against Kwame Nkrumah. He became Prime Minister as head of the Progress Party, formed out of the defunct United Party after a period of military rule in Ghana.
Kohl -  Helmut Kohl (b. 1930). German politician, served as Chancellor from 1982 to 1998.
Kojo Tsikata -  Captain Kojo Tsikata was National Security Coordinator for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ghana, appointed under the Jerry Rawlings administration in 1982 and becoming one of the former President’s closest advisors.
Kris Srinivasan -  Khrishnan Srinivasan (b.1937). Indian politician and diplomat, Foreign Secretary (1994-1995), Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General (1995-2002).
Krishna Menon -  VK Krishna Menon (1896-1974) was an Indian politician and diplomat, who served as India's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1947 to 1952 and Ambassador to the United Nations in New York from 1952 to 1962. He was also Defence Minister of India from 1957 to 1962.
Kuala Lumpur in 1989 -  The eleventh Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Kurt Waldheim -  Kurt Josef Waldheim (1918-2007) was an Austrian diplomat who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981. He was President of Austria from 1986 to 1992.
Kutesa -  Sam Kahamba Kutesa (b.1949) is a Ugandan political figure and lawyer who was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2014. He previously served as Minister of State for Investment (2001-2005), and is a close associate of President Yoweri Museveni.
Kutlu Fuad -  Kutlu Tekin Fuad (1926-2013) was a Cyprus-born jurist who served as Vice President of the Hong Kong Court of Appeal from 1988 to 1993, after which he was appointed President of the Brunei Court of Appeal. From 1972 to 1980, Fuad was Director of the Legal Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, having previously served as a Magistrate in Cyprus (1953-56) and Judge of the High Court of Uganda (1963-72).
Kwame Nkrumah -  Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) was Ghanaian political figure who served as his country’s first Prime Minister (1957-60), becoming President of Ghana (1960-66) following a constitutional change that made the country a Republic. Nkrumah had previously served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (1952-57) and was a leading figure in the struggle against British rule. Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity, which he chaired from 1965 to 1966.