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.)

• population heavily concentrated in the west along the shore of Lake Victoria;
• other areas of high density include the capital of Nairobi, and in the southeast along the Indian Ocean coast

• 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

• population heavily concentrated in the west along the shore of Lake Victoria;
• other areas of high density include the capital of Nairobi, and in the southeast along the Indian Ocean coast

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:

0.84 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.77 male(s)/female

total population:

1 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

degree of risk:

very 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 (2016)

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

etymology:

named for Mount Kenya; the meaning of the name is unclear but may derive from the Kikuyu, Embu, and Kamba words "kirinyaga," "kirenyaa," and "kiinyaa" - all of which mean "God's resting place"

name:

Nairobi

geographic coordinates:

1 17 S, 36 49 E

time difference:

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

history:

previous 1963, 1969; latest drafted 6 May 2010, passed by referendum 4 August 2010, promulgated 27 August 2010

amendments:

• proposed by either house of Parliament or by petition of at least one million eligible voters;
• passage of amendments by Parliament requires approval by at least two-thirds majority vote of both houses in each of two readings, approval in a referendum by majority of votes cast by at least 20% participation of eligible voters in at least one-half of Kenya’s counties, and approval by the president;
• passage of amendments introduced by petition requires approval by a majority of county assemblies, approval by majority vote of both houses, and approval by the president (2017)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Kenya

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

4 out of the previous 7 years

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, subject to confirmation by the National Assembly

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 at least 24 of the 47 counties to avoid a runoff;
• election last held on 26 October 2017 (next to be held in 2022)

election results:

• Uhuru KENYATTA reelected president in vote held 26 October 2017;
• percent of vote - Uhuru KENYATTA (Jubilee Party) 98.3%, Raila ODINGA (ODM) 1%, other 0.7%;
• note - Kenya held a previous presidential electin on 8 August 2017, but Kenya's Supreme Court on 1 September 2017 nullified the results, citing irregularities;
• the political opposition boycotted the October vote

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 a nonrenewable 10-year term or till age 70 whichever comes first;
• other judges serve till age 70

subordinate courts:

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

• Alliance Party of Kenya or APK [Kiraitu MURUNGI]
• Amani National Congress [Musalia MUDAVADI]
• Federal Party of Kenya or FPK [Cyrus JIRONGA]
• 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 Party [Uhuru KENYATTA]
• Kenya African National Union or KANU [Gideon MOI]
• National Rainbow Coalition or NARC [Charity NGILU]
• National Super Alliance (includes ODM, ANC, WDM-K, FORD-K) [Raila ODINGA]
• Orange Democratic Movement Party of Kenya or ODM [Raila ODINGA]
• Wiper Democratic Movement-K or WDM-K (formerly Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya or ODM-K) [Kalonzo MUSYOKA]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Robinson Njeru 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:

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:

61.1%

industry:

6.7%

services:

32.2% (2005 est.)

lowest 10%:

1.8%

highest 10%:

37.8% (2005)

general assessment:

• the mobile-cellular system is generally good, especially is urban areas;
• 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 in 2013 and is now 60% owned by Helios Investment Partners, a London-based equity fund, and 40% owned by the Kenyan Government;
• multiple providers in the mobile-cellular segment of the market fostering a boom in mobile-cellular telephone usage with teledensity reaching 83 per 100 persons in 2016

international:

• country code - 254;
• landing point for the EASSy, TEAMS and SEACOM fiber-optic submarine cable systems;
• satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat (2016)

• 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)

number of registered air carriers:

16; inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 106

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

4,874,590

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

286,414,683 mt-km (2015)

total:

3,806 km

narrow gauge:

3,334 km 1.000-m gauge

standard gauge:

472 km 1.435-m gauge (2014)

country comparison to the world: 54

total:

161,452 km

paved:

14,420 km (8,500 km highways, 1,872 urban roads, and 4,048 rural roads)

unpaved:

147,032 km (2017)

country comparison to the world: 32

• 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)

total:

20

by type:

oil tanker 2, other 18 (2017)

country comparison to the world: 134

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)

aim(s):

drive US Government personnel, US business people, and other US influences out of Kenya and, ultimately, establish a pan-Islamic caliphate under a strict Salafi Muslim interpretation

area(s) of operation:

• maintains a limited presence;
• on 7 August 1998, operatives detonated truck bombs that exploded and killed and injured scores of workers and severely damaged the US Embassy in Nairobi, killing approximately 213 people and injuring a few thousand others;
• almost all of the dead and injured were Kenyans

aim(s):

avenge Kenya's 2011 decision to send troops to Somalia to combat al-Shabaab; establish Islamic rule in Kenya and Somalia's border regions

area(s) of operation:

• maintains an operational and recruitment presence, mostly in the northeast;
• on 2 April 2015, gunmen stormed Garissa University and shot and killed 148 people and injured approximately 80;
• gunmen took over 700 students hostage and killed those who identified as Christian, making it one of Kenya's deadliest attacks;
• on 21 September 2013, at the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, gunmen injured 200 people and killed six soldiers and police officers and approximately 65 civilians, including foreign nationals from 13 countries;
• leadership claimed the attack on the mall was in retaliation for Kenya's support for the African Union Mission for Somalia, a regional peacekeeping force operated by the African Union with the approval of the UN

• Kenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005;
• Kenya provides shelter to an estimated 580,000 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):

• 285,705 (Somalia) (refugees and asylum seekers);
• 111,361 (South Sudan) (refugees and asylum seekers);
• 35,490 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (refugees and asylum seekers);
• 27,979 (Ethiopia) (refugees and asylum seekers);
• 12,759 (Burundi) (refugees and asylum seekers);
• 9,962 (Sudan) (refugees and asylum seekers) (2017)

IDPs:

138,000 (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 (2016)

stateless persons:

• 20,000 (2016);
• note - the stateless population consists 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;
• Nubians 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 included with more recent Somali refugees and denied ID cards

• 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