Kenya

agricultural land:

48.1%;

• arable land 9.8%;
• permanent crops 0.9%;
• permanent pasture 37.4%

forest:

6.1%

other:

45.8% (2011 est.)

total:

2.74 cu km/yr (17%/4%/79%)

per capita:

72.96 cu m/yr (2003)

• water pollution from urban and industrial wastes;
• degradation of water quality from increased use of pesticides and fertilizers;
• water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria;
• deforestation;
• soil erosion;
• desertification;
• poaching

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

• the Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa;
• glaciers are found on Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak;
• unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value

noun:

Kenyan(s)

adjective:

Kenyan

at birth:

1.02 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

1.02 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.83 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.77 male(s)/female

total population:

1 male(s)/female (2015 est.)

degree of risk:

high

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne disease:

malaria, dengue fever, and Rift Valley fever

water contact disease:

schistosomiasis

animal contact disease:

rabies (2013)

total number:

2,146,058

percentage:

26% (2000 est.)

conventional long form:

Republic of Kenya

conventional short form:

Kenya

local long form:

Republic of Kenya/Jamhuri ya Kenya

local short form:

Kenya

former:

British East Africa

name:

Nairobi

geographic coordinates:

1 17 S, 36 49 E

time difference:

UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

• Independence Day, 12 December (1963);
• Madaraka Day, 1 June (1963);
• Mashujaa Day (or Heroes' Day), 20 October (2010)

chief of state:

• President Uhuru KENYATTA (since 9 April 2013);
• Deputy President William RUTO (since 9 April 2013);
• note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

• President Uhuru KENYATTA (since 9 April 2013);
• Deputy President William RUTO (since 9 April 2013);
• note - position of the prime minister abolished after the March 2013 elections

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the president

elections/appointments:

• president and deputy president directly elected on the same ballot by qualified majority popular vote for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• in addition to receiving an absolute majority popular vote, the presidential candidate must also win at least 25% of the votes cast in each of more than half of the 47 counties to avoid a runoff;
• election last held on 4 March 2013 (next to be held in 2017 or 2018)

election results:

• Uhuru KENYATTA elected president in first round;
• percent of vote - Uhuru KENYATTA (TNA) 50.1%, Raila ODINGA (ODM) 43.7%, Musalia MUDAVADI (UDF) 4.0%, other 2.2%

description:

bicameral parliament consists of the Senate (67 seats; 47 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote and 20 directly elected by proportional representation vote - 16 women, 2 representing youth, and 2 representing the disabled; members serve 5-year terms) and the National Assembly (349 seats; 290 members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote, 47 women in single-seat constituencies elected by simple majority vote, and 12 members nominated by the National Assembly - 6 representing youth and 6 representing the disabled; members serve 5-year terms)

elections:

last held on 4 March 2013 (next to be held in 2017 or 2018)

election results:

• Senate - percent of vote by party/coalition - NA;
• seats by party/coalition - Jubilee Alliance (TNA 17, URP 12, NARC 1);
• CORD Coalition (ODM 17, FORD-K 5, WDM-K 5, other 1);
• Amani Coalition (KANU 3, UDF 3);
• APK 3;
• National Assembly - percent of vote by party/coalition - NA;
• seats by party/coalition - Jubilee ALliance (TNA 89, URP 75, NARC 3), CORD Coalition (ODM 96, WDM-K 26, FORD-K 10, other 9), Amani Coalition (UDF 12, KANU 6, NFK 6), APK 5, FORD-P 4, independent 4, other 4

highest court(s):

Supreme Court (consists of chief and deputy chief justices and 5 judges)

judge selection and term of office:

• chief and deputy chief justices nominated by Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and appointed by president with approval of the National Assembly;
• other judges nominated by the JSC and appointed by president;
• chief justice serves nonrenewable 10-year terms or till age 70 whichever comes first;
• other judges serve till age 70

subordinate courts:

• High Court;
• Court of Appeal;
• courts martial;
• magistrates' courts;
• religious courts

• Alliance Party of Kenya or AKP [Kiraitu MURUNGI]
• Amani Coalition (includes UDF, KANU, NFK) [Musalia MUDAVADI]
• Coalition for Reforms and Democracy or CORD (includes ODM, WDM-K, FORD-K) [Raila ODINGA]
• Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-Kenya or FORD-K [Moses WETANGULA]
• Forum for the Restoration of Democracy-People or FORD-P [Henry OBWOCHA]
• Jubilee Alliance (includes TNA, URP, NARC) [Uhuru KENYATTA]
• Kenya African National Union or KANU [Gideon MOI]
• National Rainbow Coalition or NARC [Charity NGILU]
• New Ford Kenya or NFK [Eugene WAMALWA]
• Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya or ODM [Raila ODINGA]
• The National Alliance or TNA [Uhuru KENYATTA]
• United Democratic Forum Party or UDF [Musalia MUDAVADI]
• United Republican Party or URP [William RUTO]
• Wiper Democratic Movement-K or WDM-K (formerly Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya or ODM-K) [Kalonzo MUSYOKA]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Robinson GITHAE (since 18 November 2014)

chancery:

2249 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 387-6101

FAX:

[1] (202) 462-3829

consulate(s) general:

Los Angeles

consulate(s):

New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador Robert F. GODEC (since 16 January 2013)

embassy:

US Embassy, United Nations Avenue, Nairobi; P. O. Box 606 Village Market, Nairobi 00621

mailing address:

American Embassy Nairobi, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-8900

telephone:

[254] (20) 363-6000

FAX:

[254] (20) 363-6157

• three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and green;
• the red band is edged in white;
• a large Maasai warrior's shield covering crossed spears is superimposed at the center;
• black symbolizes the majority population, red the blood shed in the struggle for freedom, green stands for natural wealth, and white for peace;
• the shield and crossed spears symbolize the defense of freedom

name:

"Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu" (Oh God of All Creation)

lyrics/music:

Graham HYSLOP, Thomas KALUME, Peter KIBUKOSYA, Washington OMONDI, and George W. SENOGA-ZAKE/traditional, adapted by Graham HYSLOP, Thomas KALUME, Peter KIBUKOSYA, Washington OMONDI, and George W. SENOGA-ZAKE

note: adopted 1963; based on a traditional Kenyan folk song

• small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, clothing, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products, horticulture, oil refining;
• aluminum, steel, lead;
• cement, commercial ship repair, tourism

agriculture:

75%

industry and services:

25% (2007 est.)

lowest 10%:

1.8%

highest 10%:

37.8% (2005)

general assessment:

• inadequate;
• fixed-line telephone system is small and inefficient;
• trunks are primarily microwave radio relay;
• business data commonly transferred by a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system

domestic:

• sole fixed-line provider, Telkom Kenya, privatized and as of 2013 is 70% owned by France Telecom;
• multiple providers in the mobile-cellular segment of the market fostering a boom in mobile-cellular telephone usage with teledensity reaching 65 per 100 persons in 2011

international:

• country code - 254;
• landing point for the EASSy, TEAMS and SEACOM fiber-optic submarine cable systems;
• satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat (2011)

• about a half-dozen large-scale privately owned media companies with TV and radio stations, as well as a state-owned TV broadcaster, provide service nationwide;
• satellite and cable TV subscription services available;
• state-owned radio broadcaster operates 2 national radio channels and provides regional and local radio services in multiple languages;
• many private radio stations broadcast on a national level along with over 100 private and non-profit provincial stations broadcasting in local languages;
• transmissions of several international broadcasters available (2014)

total:

3,334 km

narrow gauge:

3,334 km 1.000-m gauge (2014)

country comparison to the world: 71

total:

160,878 km

paved:

11,189 km

unpaved:

149,689 km

note: includes 99 km of urban and other roads (2013)

country comparison to the world: 30

• none specifically;
• the only significant inland waterway is the part of Lake Victoria within the boundaries of Kenya;
• Kisumu is the main port and has ferry connections to Uganda and Tanzania (2011)

major seaport(s):

Kisumu, Mombasa

LNG terminal(s) (import):

Mombasa

• 18-26 years of age for male and female voluntary service (under 18 with parental consent), with a 9-year obligation (7 years for Kenyan Navy);
• applicants must be Kenyan citizens and provide a national identity card (obtained at age 18) and a school-leaving certificate;
• women serve under the same terms and conditions as men;
• mandatory retirement at age 55 (2012)

males age 16-49:

9,768,140

females age 16-49:

9,466,257 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

6,361,268

females age 16-49:

6,106,870 (2010 est.)

male:

422,104

female:

416,927 (2010 est.)

• Kenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005;
• Kenya provides shelter to an estimated 580 thousand refugees, including Ugandans who flee across the border periodically to seek protection from Lord's Resistance Army rebels;
• Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists;
• the boundary that separates Kenya's and Sudan's sovereignty is unclear in the "Ilemi Triangle," which Kenya has administered since colonial times

refugees (country of origin):

• 420,199 (Somalia - includes registered asylum seekers);
• 91,827 (South Sudan);
• 31,023 (Ethiopia - includes registered asylum seekers);
• 22,049 (Democratic Republic of Congo - includes registered asylum seekers);
• 10,443 (Sudan - includes registered asylum seekers);
• 7,292 (Burundi - includes registered asylum seekers) (2015)

IDPs:

309,200 (represents people displaced since the 1990s by ethnic and political violence and land disputes and who sought refuge mostly in camps; persons who took refuge in host communities or were evicted in urban areas are not included in the data; data is not available on pastoralists displaced by cattle rustling, violence, natural disasters, and development projects; the largest displacement resulted from 2007-08 post-election violence (2014)

stateless persons:

• 20,000 (2014);
• note - the stateless population is composed of Nubians, Kenyan Somalis, and coastal Arabs;
• the Nubians are descendants of Sudanese soldiers recruited by the British to fight for them in East Africa more than a century ago;
• they did not receive Kenyan citizenship when the country became independent in 1963;
• only recently have Nubians become a formally recognized tribe and had less trouble obtaining national IDs;
• Galjeel and other Somalis who have lived in Kenya for decades are lumped in with more recent Somali refugees and denied ID cards

current situation:

• Kenya is a source, transit, and destination country for adults and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• Kenyan children are forced to work in domestic service, agriculture, fishing, cattle herding, street vending, begging, and prostitution;
• Kenyan economic migrants to other East African countries, South Sudan, Europe, the US, and the Middle East are at times exploited in domestic servitude, massage parlors or brothels, or forced manual labor;
• children from Burundi, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda are subjected to forced labor and prostitution in Kenya;
• children, often Somalis, living in the Dadaab refugee camp complex may be forced into prostitution or forced to work on tobacco farms

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List – Kenya does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• the government has written but not implemented a plan to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking;
• corruption among officials and inadequate police training and resources continued to hamper efforts to bring traffickers to justice in 2013;
• efforts to assist and care for child trafficking victims remained strong, but relatively few services were provided to adults trafficked domestically or identified in situations of forced labor or prostitution abroad;
• the Department of Children’s Services and an NGO continued to operate a hotline for reporting child trafficking, labor, and abuse;
• almost 400 recruitment agencies were inspected in conjunction with the lifting of the ban on sending domestic workers to the Middle East in 2013 (2014)

• widespread harvesting of small plots of marijuana;
• transit country for South Asian heroin destined for Europe and North America;
• Indian methaqualone also transits on way to South Africa;
• significant potential for money-laundering activity given the country's status as a regional financial center;
• massive corruption, and relatively high levels of narcotics-associated activities