He was the Secretary General of the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) that had been formed to fight for the return of African lands that had been forcefully taken by the colonialists.

With her father away, Margaret grew up and lived with her mother and her older brother Peter in their family home in Gichungo near Dagoretti Children's Centre in Nairobi.

She later attended the Church of Scotland Mission School at Thogoto, Kikuyu, where, true to her natural leadership skills, she became one of the prefects of the girls’ section.

From 1949 to 1952, Margaret taught at the Kenya Teachers’ Training College at Githunguri, Kiambu, where her father had become the Principal in 1946 after returning from England.

She stopped teaching when the African Independent Schools were closed by the colonial government after a State of Emergency was declared in Kenya in 1952.

He also wrote her letters including stories of what was happening in Lokitaung to the Drum magazine, which supported Kenya's independence struggle at the time.

Margaret also visited her father in Maralal, which involved tiring and hazardous journeys on the back of a truck for several days.

She also arranged for him to obtain the vital vitamin tablets and medication for eczema he required as well as the necessary doctors to attend to his health during his detention.

27 of Kariokor Estate, from where she managed to make occasional visits to her mother and young son in Dagoretti despite the severe travel restrictions then in place in Nairobi.

Margaret managed to secure employment in various jobs between the years 1953 and 1960; as a telephone operator at the East Africa Bata Shoe Company, later as a junior accounts clerk, and also as a book binder in a publishing firm owned by the renowned Asian nationalist Mr. Ambu H. Patel, who supported the freedom movement.

Margaret also joined and played an active role in a number of social welfare organisations dealing with women and general matters during this period.

While she was employed, she went by the name Margaret Kamau to conceal the fact that she was the daughter of Jomo Kenyatta due to the inherent dangers of an association with that name during the Emergency period.

When Mzee Kenyatta was released in August 1961, Margaret became his secretary and close confidant, always standing by his side and taking notes whenever he addressed the press.

Speaking to groups in Europe, Asia, America, the U.S.S.R., the People's Republic of China and India, her message always emphasized the importance of the home and children, and the place of education in building a solid future.

Her tenure in office was marked by the adoption of high standards that uplifted Nairobi into one of the leading cities in the world through the implementation of many developmental programs including the construction of the Jamuhuri, California, Kariobangi South, Buru Buru and Madaraka housing estates, the first housing estates of their kind in East Africa.

Margaret's first priorities during her tenure as Mayor, however, remained women, children, and education, which she viewed as the hope for Kenya's future.

Her tenure is remembered with nostalgia for her exceptional leadership, especially in her willingness to uplift other women, mentor them and to travel widely to inspire girls in schools.

In 1972 she visited Austria and convinced the Austrian President to open the SOS Children's Homes in Kenya, which continue to impact many lives of the less privileged in Kenyan society.

Margaret was elected by acclamation as the President of the Conference, telling the assemblage that the international community must not be overly confident of the successes of the Decade, but must look critically at what remains to be done and devise appropriate ways to resolve outstanding issues.

Margaret also participated as a member of the Kenyan delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace in Beijing, China, in September 1995.