Melia volkensii Gürke is an ornamental, drought-tolerant multipurpose tree species suitable for greening and hardwood timber production in the East African arid, and semi-arid lands. Conventional propagation is problematic due to seed extraction difficulties, seed dormancy, and poor rooting of cuttings. We developed a simple, rapid and efficient protocol for in vitro regeneration of M. volkensii plants from cotyledon explants using TDZ. Mature cotyledons cultured on half-strength MS medium supplemented with eight TDZ concentrations from 0 to 4 mg l^-1 formed multiple green globular structures within 8 to 14 days, without an intervening callus phase. Regeneration was confined to the upper-facing, directly illuminated surfaces of the explants. Regeneration frequency was 88% in 0.05 mg l^-1 TDZ and 100% in 0.125 - 4 mg l^-1 TDZ. Explants on control medium remained non-morphogenic. Morphological and histological examination revealed multiple globular somatic embryos similar in shape and size to the zygotic embryos. Mature somatic embryos with shoot apices converted into leafy microshoots whilst still on variants of induction medium. Microshoots elongated when whole or half segments of cotyledons were subcultured to half-strength MS supplemented with 0.1 mg l^-1 BAP alone or in combination with 0.01mg l^-l IAA or 10% coconut water (CW). The mean yield of transplantable shoots ranged from 4.67 to 11.25 per cotyledon. The most significant rooting (39.3%) and highest mean number of roots (5.64) of the shoots was achieved on half-strength MS medium supplemented with combination of 0.1 mg l^-1 NAA and 0.1 mg l^-1 IBA.