Introduction:
Founding president and liberation
struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence in 1963 until his death
in 1978, when President Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional
succession. The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when
the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) made itself the sole legal party
in Kenya. MOI acceded to internal and external pressure for political
liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured opposition failed to
dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992 and 1997, which were marred by
violence and fraud, but were viewed as having generally reflected the will of
the Kenyan people. President MOI stepped down in December 2002 following fair
and peaceful elections. Mwai KIBAKI, running as the candidate of the
multiethnic, united opposition group, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC),
defeated KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a
campaign centered on an anticorruption platform. KIBAKI's NARC coalition
splintered in 2005 over the constitutional review process. Government defectors
joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition, the Orange Democratic
Movement, which defeated the government's draft constitution in a popular
referendum in November 2005.
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GEOGRAPHY:
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CLIMATE:
MOMBASA 4 3 S, 39 61 E, 180 feet
(55 meters) above sea level.
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MOYALE LOWER 3 53 N, 39 5 E, 3599 feet (1097 meters) above sea level.
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KISUMU 0 10 S, 34 75 E, 3759 feet (1146 meters) above sea level.
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LAMU 2 26 S, 40 83 E, 19 feet (6 meters) above sea level.
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LODWAR 3 11 N, 35 61 E, 1689 feet (515 meters) above sea level.
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PEOPLE:
Kenya has a very diverse population that includes three of Africa's major
sociolinguistic groups: Bantu (67%), Nilotic (30%), and Cushitic (3%). Kenyans
are deeply religious. About 80% of Kenyans are Christian, 10% Muslim, and 10%
follow traditional African religions or other faiths. Most city residents retain
links with their rural, extended families and leave the city periodically to
help work on the family farm. About 75% of the work force is engaged in
agriculture, mainly as subsistence farmers. The national motto of Kenya is
Harambee, meaning 'pull together.' In that spirit, volunteers in hundreds of
communities build schools, clinics, and other facilities each year and collect
funds to send students abroad. The six state universities enroll about 45,000
students, representing some 25% of the Kenyan students who qualify for
admission. There are six private universities.
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HISTORY:
Fossils found in East Africa suggest that protohumans roamed the area more than
20 million years ago. Recent finds near Kenya's Lake Turkana indicate that
hominids lived in the area 2.6 million years ago.
Cushitic-speaking people from what is now Sudan and Ethiopia moved into the area
that is now Kenya beginning around 2000 BC. Arab traders began frequenting the
Kenya coast around the first century AD. Kenya's proximity to the Arabian
Peninsula invited colonization, and Arab and Persian settlements sprouted along
the coast by the eighth century. During the first millennium AD, Nilotic and
Bantu peoples moved into the region, and the latter now comprise two thirds of
Kenya's population. The Swahili language, a Bantu language with significant
Arabic vocabulary, developed as a trade language for the region.
Arab dominance on the coast was interrupted for about 150 years following the
arrival of the Portuguese in 1498. British exploration of East Africa in the
mid-1800s eventually led to the establishment of Britain's East African
Protectorate in 1895. The Protectorate promoted settlement of the fertile
central highlands by Europeans, dispossessing the Kikuyu and others of their
land. Some fertile and well watered parts of the Rift Valley inhabited by the
Maasai and the western highlands inhabited by the Kalenjin were also handed over
to European settlers. For other Kenyan communities, the British presence was
slight, especially in the arid northern half of the country. The settlers were
allowed a voice in government even before Kenya was officially made a British
colony in 1920, but Africans were prohibited from direct political participation
until 1944 when a few appointed (but not elected) African representatives were
permitted to sit in the legislature.
From 1952 to 1959, Kenya was under a state of emergency arising from the 'Mau
Mau' insurgency against British colonial rule in general and its land policies
in particular. This rebellion took place almost exclusively in the highlands of
central Kenya among the Kikuyu people. Tens of thousands of Kikuyu died in the
fighting or in the detention camps and restricted villages. British losses were
about 650. During this period, African participation in the political process
increased rapidly.
The first direct elections for Africans to the Legislative Council took place in
1957. Kenya became independent on December 12, 1963, and the next year joined
the Commonwealth. Jomo Kenyatta, an ethnic Kikuyu and head of the Kenya African
National Union (KANU), became Kenya's first President. The minority party, Kenya
African Democratic Union (KADU), representing a coalition of small ethnic groups
that had feared dominance by larger ones, dissolved itself in 1964 and joined
KANU.
A small but significant leftist opposition party, the Kenya People's Union (KPU),
was formed in 1966, led by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a former Vice President and
Luo elder. The KPU was banned shortly thereafter, however, and its leader
detained. KANU became Kenya's sole political party. At Kenyatta's death in
August 1978, Vice President Daniel arap Moi, a Kalenjin from Rift Valley
province, became interim President. By October of that year, Moi became
President formally after he was elected head of KANU and designated its sole
nominee for the presidential election.
In June 1982, the National Assembly amended the constitution, making Kenya
officially a one-party state. Two months later, young military officers in
league with some opposition elements attempted to overthrow the government in a
violent but ultimately unsuccessful coup. In response to street protests and
donor pressure, Parliament repealed the one-party section of the constitution in
December 1991. In 1992, independent Kenya's first multiparty elections were
held. Divisions in the opposition contributed to Moi's retention of the
presidency in 1992 and again in the 1997 election. Following the 1997 election
Kenya experienced its first coalition government as KANU was forced to cobble
together a majority by bringing into government a few minor parties.
In October 2002, a coalition of opposition parties joined forces with a faction
which broke away from KANU to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). In
December 2002, the NARC candidate, Mwai Kibaki, was elected the country's third
President. President Kibaki received 62% of the vote, and NARC also won 59% of
the parliamentary seats. Kibaki, a Kikuyu from Central province, had served as a
Member of Parliament since Kenya's independence in 1963. He served in senior
posts in both the Kenyatta and Moi governments, including Vice President and
Finance Minister. In 2003, internal conflicts disrupted the NARC government,
culminating in its defeat in 2005 in a referendum over the government's draft
constitution. The new opposition became the Orange Democratic Movement of Kenya
(ODM-K)--an alliance of former NARC members and KANU, among others. In early
2006, pro-government supporters formed the NARC-Kenya party to rival the ODM-K.
Kenya is scheduled to hold presidential, parliamentary, and local government
elections on December 29, 2007.
GOVERNMENT:
The unicameral National Assembly consists of 210 members elected to a term of 5
years from single-member constituencies, plus 12 members nominated by political
parties on a proportional representation basis. The president appoints the vice
president and cabinet members from among those elected to the assembly. The
attorney general and the speaker are ex-officio members of the National
Assembly.
The judiciary is headed by a High Court, consisting of a Chief Justice and High
Court judges and judges of Kenya's Court of Appeal, all appointed by the
president.
Local administration is divided among 69 rural districts, each headed by a
commissioner appointed by the president. The government has proposed 37 more
districts, but these are not yet ratified by Parliament. The districts are
joined to form seven rural provinces. Nairobi has special provincial status. The
Ministry of State in charge of Provincial Administration and Internal Security
supervises the administration of districts and provinces.
Principal Government Officials
President--Mwai Kibaki
Vice President--Moody Awori
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Raphael Tuju
Ambassador to the United Nations--Zachary Muita-Muburi
Consulate General Los Angeles--Ms. Nyambura Kamau
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ECONOMY:
After independence, Kenya promoted rapid economic growth through public
investment, encouragement of smallholder agricultural production, and incentives
for private (often foreign) industrial investment. Gross domestic product (GDP)
grew at an annual average of 6.6% from 1963 to 1973. Agricultural production
grew by 4.7% annually during the same period, stimulated by redistributing
estates, diffusing new crop strains, and opening new areas to cultivation. After
experiencing moderately high growth rates during the 1960s and 1970s, Kenya's
economic performance during the last two decades has been far below its
potential. The economy grew by an annual average of only 1.5% between 1997 and
2002, which was below the population growth estimated at 2.5% per annum, leading
to a decline in per capita incomes. The decline in economic performance in the
last two decades was largely due to inappropriate agricultural policies,
inadequate credit, and poor international terms of trade contributing to the
decline in agriculture. Kenya's inward-looking policy of import substitution and
rising oil prices made Kenya's manufacturing sector uncompetitive. The
government began a massive intrusion in the private sector. Lack of export
incentives, tight import controls, and foreign exchange controls made the
domestic environment for investment even less attractive.
From 1991 to 1993, Kenya had its worst economic performance since independence.
Growth in GDP stagnated, and agricultural production shrank at an annual rate of
3.9%. Inflation reached a record 100% in August 1993, and the government's
budget deficit was over 10% of GDP. As a result of these combined problems,
bilateral and multilateral donors suspended program aid to Kenya in 1991. In the
1990s, the government implemented economic reform measures to stabilize the
economy and restore sustainable growth. In 1994, nearly all administrative
controls on producer and retail prices, imports, foreign exchange and grain
marketing were removed. The Government of Kenya privatized a range of publicly
owned companies, reduced the number of civil servants, and introduced
conservative fiscal and monetary policies. By the mid-1990s, the government
lifted price controls on petroleum products. In 1995, foreigners were allowed to
invest in the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE). In July 1997, the Government of
Kenya refused to meet commitments made earlier to the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) on governance reforms. As a result, the IMF suspended lending for 3
years, and the World Bank also put a $90-million structural adjustment credit on
hold.
The Government of Kenya took some positive steps on reform, including the
establishment of the Kenyan Anti-Corruption Authority in 1999, and the adoption
of measures to improve the transparency of government procurements and reduce
the government payroll. In July 2000, the IMF signed a $150 million Poverty
Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), and the World Bank followed suit shortly
after with a $157 million Economic and Public Sector Reform credit. The
Anti-Corruption Authority was declared unconstitutional in December 2000, and
other parts of the reform effort faltered in 2001. The IMF and World Bank again
suspended their programs.
Net foreign direct investment (FDI) was negative from 2000-2003, but started
trickling back in 2004, as demonstrated by an increase in the number of
enterprises operating in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) from 66 to 74 between
2003 and 2004. The value of total investments increased from Ksh18.7 billion
(U.S. $247.3 million) in 2005 to Ksh20.1 billion (over U.S. $278.3 million) in
2006. Following the end of the Multifiber Arrangement (MFA) textile agreement in
January 2005, several textile and apparel factories closed, leaving 68 EPZ
enterprises. In 2006, this number increased to 70 EPZ enterprises.
The economy began to recover after 2002, registering 2.8% growth in 2003, 4.3%
in 2004, 5.8% in 2005, and 6.1 % in 2006. Under the leadership of President
Kibaki, who took over on December 30, 2002, the Government of Kenya began an
ambitious economic reform program and resumed its cooperation with the World
Bank and the IMF. The National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government enacted the
Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and Public Officers Ethics Act in May
2003 aimed at fighting graft in public offices. There was some movement to
reduce corruption in 2003, but the government did not sustain that momentum.
Other reforms especially in the judiciary, public procurement etc, led to the
unlocking of donor aid and a renewed hope of economic revival.
In November 2003, following the signing into law of key anti-corruption
legislation and other reforms by the new government, donors reengaged as the IMF
approved a three-year $250 million Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and
donors committed $4.2 billion in support over 4 years. In December 2004, the IMF
approved Kenya's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement
equivalent to U.S. $252.8 million to support the government's economic and
governance reforms. However, the government's ability to stimulate economic
demand through fiscal and monetary policy remains fairly limited while the pace
at which the government is pursuing reforms in other key areas remains slow.
Although the Privatization Law was enacted in 2005, modest steps have been made
on privatizing of parastatals apart from Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen)
and the concessioning of Kenya Railways, while civil service reform is limited
despite the government's assertion that reforms would be undertaken.
Accelerating growth to achieve Kenya's potential and reduce the poverty that
afflicts more than 56% of its population will require continued de-regulation of
business, improved delivery of government services, addressing structural
reforms, massive investment in new infrastructure (especially roads), reduction
of chronic insecurity caused by crime, and improved economic governance
generally.
The current expansion is fairly broad-based and is built on a stable
macro-environment fostered by government, and the resilience, resourcefulness,
and improved confidence of the private sector. Nairobi continues to be the
primary communication and financial hub of East Africa. It enjoys the region's
best transportation linkages, communications infrastructure, and trained
personnel, although these advantages are less prominent than in past years. On
January 31, 2007, the government signed a $2.7 million contract with Tyco
Telecommunications to perform an undersea survey for the construction of a
fiber-optic cable to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) called the
East African Marine Systems (TEAMS). Two other fiber-optic cables projects are
being pursued to link Kenya to the rest of East Africa and India. Once TEAMS and
the domestic fiber-optic cables planned by the government are completed, the
economy is expected to benefit significantly from reduced internet access prices
and improved capacity. A wide range of foreign firms maintain regional branches
or representative offices in the city. In March 1996, the Presidents of Kenya,
Tanzania, and Uganda re-established the East African Community (EAC). The EAC's
objectives include harmonizing tariffs and customs regimes, free movement of
people, and improving regional infrastructures. In March 2004, the three East
African countries signed a Customs Union Agreement paving the way for a common
market. The Customs Union and a Common External Tariff were established on
January 1, 2005, but the EAC countries are still working out exceptions to the
tariff. Rwanda and Burundi have since joined the community. In May 2007, during
a Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit, 13 heads of
state endorsed a move to adopt a COMESA customs union and set December 8, 2008
as the target date for its adoption.
Tourism is now Kenya's largest foreign exchange earning sector, followed by
flowers, tea and coffee. In 2006 tourism generated $803 million, up from $699
million the previous year. Africa is Kenya's largest export market, followed by
the European Union (EU). Kenya benefits significantly from the African Growth
and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Although Congress renewed the AGOA third-country
fabric provision in December 2006 to provide more time to develop local cotton
and fabric production that meets the buyers' rigorous standards, its apparel
industry is struggling to hold its ground against Asian competition. Kenya's
main exports to the U.S. are AGOA-program garments, but it continues to run a
trade deficit with the U.S.
Kenya faces profound environmental challenges brought on by high population
growth, deforestation, shifting climate patterns, and the overgrazing of cattle
in marginal areas in the north and west of the country. Significant portions of
the population will continue to require emergency food assistance in the coming
years.
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MILITARY:
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