Editing History of Kenya (section)

==Independence==
{{See also|Kenya Independence Movement|Kenya African National Union|Kenya African Democratic Union|Kenya (1963–1964)}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Lancaster House Conference for Kenya's Independance.jpg|thumb|right|[[Lancaster House Conferences (Kenya)|Lancaster House Conference]] held in 1963 for Kenya's Independence.]] -->
In 1962, a KANU-KADU coalition government, including both Kenyatta and Ngala, was formed. The 1962 constitution established a bicameral legislature consisting of a 117-member House of Representatives and a 41-member Senate. The country was divided into 7 semi-autonomous regions, each with its own regional assembly. The quota principle of reserved seats for non-Africans was abandoned, and open elections were held in May 1963. KADU gained control of the assemblies in the Rift Valley, Coast and Western regions. KANU won majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives, and in the assemblies in the Central, Eastern and Nyanza regions.<ref>No assembly could be formed in the Northeast Region, because separatist Somalis had boycotted the elections, and its House and Senate seats also remained vacant.</ref> Kenya now achieved internal self-government with Jomo Kenyatta as its first president. The British and KANU agreed, over KADU protests, to constitutional changes in October 1963 strengthening the central government thus ensuring that Kenya would be a ''de facto'' [[One-party state|single-party state]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Mutua |first=Makau |date=2001 |title=Justice under Siege: The Rule of Law and Judicial Subservience in Kenya |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4489325 |journal=Human Rights Quarterly |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=96–118 |doi=10.1353/hrq.2001.0010 |jstor=4489325 |s2cid=144841688 |issn=0275-0392 |access-date=22 March 2023 |archive-date=22 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322023104/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4489325 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kenya attained independence on 12 December 1963<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1212.html#article|title=Joyful Kenya Gets Independence From Britain|last=Conley R|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=12 December 2018|archive-date=24 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024035607/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1212.html#article|url-status=live}}</ref> as the [[Commonwealth realm]] of [[Kenya (1963–1964)|Kenya]] and was declared a republic on 12 December 1964 with Jomo Kenyatta as Head of State. In 1964 constitutional changes further centralised the government and various state organs were formed. One of the key state organs was the [[Central Bank of Kenya]] which was established in 1966.

The British government bought out the white settlers and they mostly left Kenya. The Indian minority dominated retail business in the cities and most towns, but was deeply distrusted by the Africans. As a result, 120,000 of the 176,000 Indians kept their old British passports rather than become citizens of an independent Kenya; large numbers left Kenya, most of them headed to Britain.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The politics of the independence of Kenya|vauthors=Keith K|publisher=Macmillan|year=1999|isbn=9780333720080}}</ref>

===Kenyatta tenure (1963–1978)===
{{See also|Presidency of Jomo Kenyatta|Shifta War|Pio Gama Pinto|Kenya People's Union|Kisumu massacre}}
[[File:Kenya.ogv|thumb|1973 newsreel about Kenyatta's rule]] 
Once in power, Kenyatta swerved from radical nationalism to conservative bourgeois politics. The plantations formerly owned by white settlers were broken up and given to farmers, with the Kikuyu the favoured recipients, along with their allies the Embu and the Meru. By 1978, most of the country's wealth and power was in the hands of the organisation which grouped these three tribes: the Kikuyu-Embu-Meru Association (GEMA), together comprising 30% of the population. At the same time the Kikuyu, with Kenyatta's support, spread beyond their traditional territorial homelands and repossessed lands "stolen by the whites" – even when these had previously belonged to other groups. The other groups, a 70% majority, were outraged, setting up long-term ethnic animosities.<ref name="opendemocracy.net">{{cite web|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/kenya_roots_of_crisis/|title=Kenya: roots of crisis|last=Prunier G|date=2008|website=[[openDemocracy]]|access-date=10 March 2019|archive-date=18 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718084613/https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/kenya_roots_of_crisis/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The minority party, the [[Kenya African Democratic Union]] (KADU), representing a coalition of small tribes that had feared dominance by larger ones, dissolved itself voluntarily in 1964 and former members joined KANU. KANU was the only party 1964–66 when a faction broke away as the [[Kenya People's Union]] (KPU). It was led by [[Jaramogi Oginga Odinga]], a former vice-president and [[Luo (Kenya)|Luo]] elder. KPU advocated a more "scientific" route to socialism—criticising the slow progress in land redistribution and employment opportunities—as well as a realignment of foreign policy in favour of the [[Soviet Union]]. On 25 February 1965, [[Pio Gama Pinto]], a Kenyan of [[Goan]] descent and freedom fighter who was detained during the colonial period was assassinated in what is recognised as Kenya's first political assassination. He was also [[Oginga Odinga|Oginga Odinga's]] chief tactician and link to the eastern bloc.<ref>Report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission 2013. Excerpts available from: http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/gvuk_files/Pio_Gama_Pinto_TRJC_2013.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020091213/http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/gvuk_files/Pio_Gama_Pinto_TRJC_2013.pdf |date=20 October 2021 }}</ref> His death dealt a severe blow to the Oginga Odinga's organisational efforts.<ref>Freedom and suffering. Chapter in: Kenya: Between Hope and Despair, 1963 – 2011 by Daniel Branch. Yale University Press. Nov 2011</ref>

The government used a variety of political and economic measures to harass the KPU and its prospective and actual members. KPU branches were unable to register, KPU meetings were prevented and civil servants and politicians suffered severe economic and political consequences for joining the KPU. A security Act was passed in Parliament in July 1966 and granted the government powers to carry out detention without trial, which was used against KPU members.<ref>K. Conboy. Detention without trial in Kenya. GEORGIA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW Volume:8 Issue:2 Dated:(SPRING 1978) Pages:441-461M</ref> In a series of dawn raids in August 1966, several KPU party members were arrested and detained without trial. They included [[Ochola Ogaye Mak'Anyengo|Ochola Mak'Anyengo]] (the secretary general of the Kenya Petroleum Oil Workers Union), Oluande Koduol (Oginga Odinga's private secretary) and Peter Ooko (the general secretary of the East African Common Services Civil Servants Union).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1966-08-05 |title=5 opposition leaders seized |pages=1 |work=Pasadena Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pasadena-independent-5-opposition-leader/15272844/ |access-date=2023-08-02 |archive-date=14 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514213423/https://www.newspapers.com/article/pasadena-independent-5-opposition-leader/15272844/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In June 1969, Tom Mboya, a Luo member of the government considered a potential successor to Kenyatta, was assassinated. Hostility between Kikuyu and Luo was heightened, and after riots broke out in Luo country the KPU was banned. The specific riots that led to the banning of the KPU resulted in the incident referred to as the [[Kisumu massacre]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-28 |title=Dark Saturday in 1969 when Jomo's visit to Kisumu turned bloody |url=https://nation.africa/kenya/news/dark-saturday-in-1969-when-jomo-s-visit-to-kisumu-turned-bloody-101870 |access-date=2023-08-02 |website=Nation |language=en |archive-date=11 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230511074727/https://nation.africa/kenya/news/dark-saturday-in-1969-when-jomo-s-visit-to-kisumu-turned-bloody-101870 |url-status=live }}</ref> Kenya thereby became a one-party state under KANU.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Mueller SD|date=1984|title=Government and Opposition in Kenya, 1966-9|journal=[[The Journal of Modern African Studies|J. Mod. Afr. Stud.]]|volume=22|issue=3|pages=399–427|jstor=160453|doi=10.1017/S0022278X00055105|hdl=2144/39906|s2cid=154614480 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Ignoring his suppression of the opposition and continued factionalism within KANU the imposition of one-party rule allowed Mzee ("Old Man") Kenyatta, who had led the country since independence, to claim he had achieved "political stability." Underlying social tensions were evident, however. Kenya's very rapid population growth and considerable rural to urban migration were in larger part responsible for high unemployment and disorder in the cities. There also was much resentment by blacks at the privileged economic position held by Asians and Europeans in the country.

At Kenyatta's death (22 August 1978), Vice-president [[Daniel arap Moi]] became interim President. On 14 October, Moi formally became president after he was elected head of KANU and designated its sole nominee. In June 1982, the National Assembly amended the constitution, making Kenya officially a one-party state. On 1 August members of the [[Kenyan Air Force]] launched [[1982 Kenyan coup d'état attempt|an attempted coup]], which was quickly suppressed by Loyalist forces led by the Army, the [[General Service Unit]] (GSU) – paramilitary wing of the police – and later the regular police, but not without civilian casualties.<ref name=":1" />

====Foreign policies====
Independent Kenya, although officially non-aligned, adopted a pro-Western stance.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Britain, Kenya and the Cold War: Imperial Defence, Colonial Security and Decolonisation|vauthors=Percox DA|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2004|isbn=9781850434603|location=London}}</ref> Kenya worked unsuccessfully for East African union; the proposal to unite Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda did not win approval. However, the three nations did form a loose East African Community (EAC) in 1967, that maintained the customs union and some common services that they had shared under British rule. The EAC collapsed in 1977 and was officially dissolved in 1984. Kenya's relations with Somalia deteriorated over the problem of Somalis in the North Eastern Province who tried to secede and were supported by Somalia. In 1968, however, Kenya and Somalia agreed to restore normal relations, and the Somali rebellion effectively ended.<ref name=":1" />

===Moi regime (1978–2002)===
{{See also|Presidency of Daniel Moi|1982 Kenyan coup d'état attempt|Wagalla massacre}}
Kenyatta died in 1978 and was succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi (b. 1924, d. 2020) who ruled as President 1978–2002. Moi, a member of the Kalenjin ethnic group, quickly consolidated his position and governed in an authoritarian and corrupt manner. By 1986, Moi had concentrated all the power – and most of its attendant economic benefits – into the hands of his Kalenjin tribe and of a handful of allies from minority groups.<ref name=":1" />

On 1 August 1982, lower-level air force personnel, led by Senior [[Private (rank)|Private]] Grade-I [[Hezekiah Ochuka]] and backed by university students, [[1982 Kenyan coup d'état attempt|attempted a coup d'état]] to oust Moi. The putsch was quickly suppressed by forces commanded by Army Commander [[Mahamoud Mohamed]], a veteran Somali military official.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3MctAQAAIAAJ|title=Society|publisher=Nyamora Communications Limited|year=1992|pages=12}}</ref> In the coup's aftermath, some of Nairobi's poor Kenyans attacked and looted stores owned by Asians. Robert Ouko, the senior [[Luo peoples|Luo]] in Moi's cabinet, was appointed to expose corruption at high levels, but was murdered a few months later. Moi's closest associate was implicated in Ouko's murder; Moi dismissed him but not before his remaining Luo support had evaporated. Germany recalled its ambassador to protest the "increasing brutality" of the regime and foreign donors pressed Moi to allow other parties, which was done in December 1991 through a constitutional amendment.<ref name=":1" />

On the heels of the [[Garissa massacre]] of 1980, Kenyan troops committed the [[Wagalla massacre]] in 1984 against thousands of civilians in the [[North Eastern Province (Kenya)|North Eastern Province]]. An official probe into the atrocities was later ordered in 2011.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12463001|title=Wagalla massacre: Raila Odinga orders Kenya probe|date=11 February 2011|newspaper=[[BBC News]]|access-date=14 November 2013|archive-date=22 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140622041516/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12463001|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Multi-party politics====
[[File:Daniel arap Moi 1979c.jpg|thumb|right|President [[Daniel arap Moi]] in 1979]]
After local and foreign pressure, in December 1991, parliament repealed the one-party section of the constitution. The first multiparty elections were held in 1992.<ref name=":2" />

The Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) emerged as the leading opposition to KANU, and dozens of leading KANU figures switched parties. But FORD, led by [[Oginga Odinga]] (1911–1994), a Luo,  and Kenneth Matiba, a Kikuyu, split into two ethnically based factions. In the first open presidential elections in a quarter century, in December 1992, Moi won with 37% of the vote, Matiba received 26%, Mwai Kibaki (of the mostly Kikuyu Democratic Party) 19%, and Odinga 18%. In the Assembly, KANU won 97 of the 188 seats at stake. Moi's government in 1993 agreed to economic reforms long urged by the [[World Bank]] and the [[International Monetary Fund]], which restored enough aid for Kenya to service its $7.5&nbsp;billion foreign debt.<ref name=":1" />

Obstructing the press both before and after the 1992 elections, Moi continually maintained that multiparty politics would only promote tribal conflict. His own regime depended upon exploitation of inter-group hatreds. Under Moi, the apparatus of clientage and control was underpinned by the system of powerful provincial commissioners, each with a bureaucratic hierarchy based on chiefs (and their police) that was more powerful than the elected members of parliament. Elected local councils lost most of their power, and the provincial bosses were answerable only to the central government, which in turn was dominated by the president. The emergence of mass opposition in 1990–91 and demands for constitutional reform were met by rallies against pluralism. The regime leaned on the support of the Kalenjin and incited the Maasai against the Kikuyu. Government politicians denounced the Kikuyu as traitors, obstructed their registration as voters and threatened them with dispossession. In 1993 and after, mass evictions of Kikuyu took place, often with the direct involvement of army, police and game rangers. Armed clashes and many casualties, including deaths, resulted.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Klopp JM|date=2001|title='Ethnic Clashes' and Winning Elections: The Case of Kenya's Electoral Despotism|journal=[[Canadian Journal of African Studies|Can. J. Afr. Stud.]]|volume=35|issue=3|pages=473–517|doi=10.2307/486297|jstor=486297}}</ref>

Further liberalisation in November 1997 allowed the expansion of political parties from 11 to 26. President Moi won re-election as president in the December 1997 elections, and his KANU Party narrowly retained its parliamentary majority.

Moi ruled using a strategic mixture of ethnic favouritism, state repression and marginalisation of opposition forces. He utilised detention and torture, looted public finances and appropriated land and other property. Moi sponsored irregular army units that attacked the Luo, Luhya and Kikuyu communities, and he denied his responsibility by attributing the violence to ethnic clashes arising from land dispute.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Roessler PG|date=2005|title=Donor-Induced Democratization and the Privatization of State Violence in Kenya and Rwanda|journal=Comparative Politics|volume=37|issue=2|pages=207–227|doi=10.2307/20072883|jstor=20072883}}</ref> Beginning in 1998, Moi engaged in a carefully calculated strategy to manage the presidential succession in his and his party's favour. Faced with the challenge of a new, multiethnic political coalition, Moi shifted the axis of the 2002 electoral contest from ethnicity to the politics of generational conflict. The strategy backfired, ripping his party wide open and resulting in the humiliating defeat of its candidate, Kenyatta's son, in the December 2002 general elections.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Steeves J|date=2006|title=Presidential succession in Kenya: The transition from Moi to Kibaki|journal=[[Commonwealth & Comparative Politics|Commonw. Comp. Politics]]|volume=44|issue=2|pages=211–233|doi=10.1080/14662040600831651|s2cid=154320354}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Kagwanja PM|date=2006|title='Power to Uhuru': Youth Identity and Generational Politics in Kenya's 2002 Elections|journal=[[African Affairs|Afr. Aff.]]|volume=105|issue=418|pages=51–75|doi=10.1093/afraf/adi067}}</ref>

===Recent history (2002 to present)===
{{further|Politics of Kenya}}

====2002 elections====
[[File:Mwai Kibaki & wife at White House, October 2003.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mwai Kibaki]] and (the late) Mrs. [[Lucy Kibaki]] with US President [[George W. Bush]] and Mrs. [[Laura Bush]] at the [[White House]] during a state visit in 2003.]]
Constitutionally barred from running in the December 2002 presidential elections, Moi unsuccessfully promoted [[Uhuru Kenyatta]], the son of Kenya's first President, as his successor. A rainbow coalition of opposition parties routed the ruling KANU party, and its leader, Moi's former vice-president [[Mwai Kibaki]], was elected president by a large majority.

On 27 December 2002, by 62% the voters overwhelmingly elected members of the National Rainbow Coalition (NaRC) to parliament and NaRC candidate Mwai Kibaki (b. 1931) to the presidency. Voters rejected the Kenya African National Union's (KANU) presidential candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, the handpicked candidate of outgoing president Moi. International and local observers reported the 2002 elections to be generally more fair and less violent than those of both 1992 and 1997. His strong showing allowed Kibaki to choose a cabinet, to seek international support and to balance power within the NaRC.

====Economic trends====
Kenya witnessed a spectacular economic recovery, helped by a favourable international environment. The annual rate of growth improved from −1.6% in 2002 to 2.6% by 2004, 3.4% in 2005, and 5.5% in 2007. However, social inequalities also increased; the economic benefits went disproportionately to the already well-off (especially to the Kikuyu); corruption reached new depths, matching some of the excesses of the Moi years. Social conditions deteriorated for ordinary Kenyans, who faced a growing wave of routine crime in urban areas; pitched battles between ethnic groups fighting for land; and a feud between the police and the Mungiki sect, which left over 120 people dead in May–November 2007 alone.<ref name="opendemocracy.net"/>

====2007 elections and ethnic violence====
{{further|2007–2008 Kenyan crisis}}
[[File:Raila and the media.jpg|thumb|right|[[Orange Democratic Movement]] leader Prime Minister [[Omolo Odinga]] speaking with the Kenyan media.]]
Once regarded as the world's "most optimistic," Kibaki's regime quickly lost much of its power because it became too closely linked with the discredited Moi forces. The continuity between Kibaki and Moi set the stage for the self-destruction of Kibaki's National Rainbow Coalition, which was dominated by Kikuyus. The western Luo and Kalenjin groups, demanding greater autonomy, backed Raila Amolo Odinga (1945– ) and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Murunga GR, Nasong'o SW|date=2006|title=Bent on self-destruction: The Kibaki regime in Kenya|journal=[[Journal of Contemporary African Studies|J. Contemp. Afr. Stud.]]|volume=24|issue=1|pages=1–28|doi=10.1080/02589000500513713|s2cid=154675141}}</ref>

In the December 2007 elections, Odinga, the candidate of the ODM, attacked the failures of the Kibaki regime. The ODM charged the Kikuyu with having grabbed everything and all the other tribes having lost; that Kibaki had betrayed his promises for change; that crime and violence were out of control, and that economic growth was not bringing any benefits to the ordinary citizen. In the December 2007 elections the ODM won majority seats in Parliament, but the presidential elections votes were marred by claims of rigging by both sides. It may never be clear who won the elections, but it was roughly 50:50 before the rigging started.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2020-05-28|title=National-level Data on the 2007–2008 Postelection Violence|journal=Political Violence in Kenya|pages=317–318|doi=10.1017/9781108764063.013|isbn=9781108764063|s2cid=238119891}}</ref>

"[[Majimbo]]ism" was a philosophy that emerged in the 1950s, meaning federalism or regionalism in Swahili, and it was intended to protect local rights, especially regarding land ownership. Today "majimboism" is code for certain areas of the country to be reserved for specific ethnic groups, fuelling the kind of ethnic cleansing that has swept the country since the election. Majimboism has always had a strong following in the Rift Valley, the epicenter of the recent violence, where many locals have long believed that their land was stolen by outsiders. The December 2007 election was in part a referendum on majimboism. It pitted today's majimboists, represented by Odinga, who campaigned for regionalism, against Kibaki, who stood for the status quo of a highly centralised government that has delivered considerable economic growth but has repeatedly displayed the problems of too much power concentrated in too few hands – corruption, aloofness, favouritism and its flip side, marginalisation. In the town of Londiani in the [[Rift valley|Rift Valley]], Kikuyu traders settled decades ago. In February 2008, hundreds of Kalenjin raiders poured down from the nearby scruffy hills and burned a Kikuyu school. Three hundred thousand members of the Kikuyu community were displaced from Rift Valley province.<ref name="alertnet">{{Cite news|url=http://alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/KE_VIO.htm?v=in_detail|title=Kenya violence: Election turmoil|date=2008|work=[[Reuters AlertNet]]|access-date=10 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620021022/http://alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/KE_VIO.htm?v=in_detail|archive-date=20 June 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Kikuyus quickly took revenge, organising into gangs armed with iron bars and table legs and hunting down Luos and Kalenjins in Kikuyu-dominated areas like [[Nakuru County|Nakuru]]. "We are achieving our own perverse version of majimboism," wrote one of Kenya's leading columnists, Macharia Gaitho.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/world/africa/15kenya.html|title=Signs in Kenya of a Land Redrawn by Ethnicity|last=Gettleman J|date=2008|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=22 February 2017|archive-date=5 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105180232/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/world/africa/15kenya.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Luo (Kenya and Tanzania)|Luo]] population of the southwest had enjoyed an advantageous position during the late colonial and early independence periods of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s, particularly in terms of the prominence of its modern elite compared to those of other groups. 
However the Luo lost prominence due to the success of Kikuyu and related groups (Embu and Meru) in gaining and exercising political power during the [[Jomo Kenyatta]] era (1963–1978). While measurements of poverty and health by the early 2000s showed the Luo disadvantaged relative to other Kenyans, the growing presence of non-Luo in the professions reflected a dilution of Luo professionals due to the arrival of others rather than an absolute decline in the Luo numbers.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Morrison LB|date=2007|title=The nature of decline: distinguishing myth from reality in the case of the Luo of Kenya|journal=[[Journal of Modern African Studies|J. Mod. Afr. Stud.]]|volume=45|issue=1|pages=117–142|doi=10.1017/S0022278X06002308|jstor=4486722|s2cid=55019548}}</ref>

====Demographic trends====
{{further|Demographics of Kenya}}
[[File:Kenya-demography.png|thumb|right|Kenya demography (1961–2003)]]
Between 1980 and 2000 total fecundity in Kenya fell by about 40%, from some eight births per woman to around five. During the same period, fertility in Uganda declined by less than 10%. The difference was due primarily to greater contraceptive use in Kenya, though in Uganda there was also a reduction in pathological sterility. The [[Demography|Demographic]] and Health Surveys carried out every five years show that women in Kenya wanted fewer children than those in Uganda and that in Uganda there was also a greater unmet need for contraception. These differences may be attributed, in part at least, to the divergent paths of economic development followed by the two countries since independence and to the Kenya government's active promotion of family planning, which the [[Uganda]] government did not promote until 1995.<ref>{{Cite journal|display-authors=3|vauthors=Blacker J, Opiyo C, Jasseh M, Sloggett A, Ssekamatte-Ssebuliba J|date=2005|title=Fertility in Kenya and Uganda: A Comparative Study of Trends and Determinants|journal=Population Studies|volume=59|issue=3|pages=355–373|doi=10.1080/00324720500281672|pmid=16249155|jstor=30040477|s2cid=6415353}}</ref>

==== Presidency of Uhuru Kenyatta (2013-2022) ====

After Kibaki's tenure ended in 2013, Kenya held its [[2013 Kenyan general election|first general elections]] after the 2010 constitution had been passed. Uhuru Kenyatta won in a disputed election result, leading to a petition by the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. The supreme court upheld the election results and Kenyatta began his term with [[William Ruto]] as deputy president. Despite this ruling, the Supreme Court and the [[Supreme Court Judge|head of the Supreme Court]] were seen as powerful institutions that could check the powers of the president.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Supreme Court upholds Uhuru's election as president |url=https://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/1064-1734782-jlg2e7/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130055614/https://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/1064-1734782-jlg2e7/index.html |archive-date=30 January 2019 |access-date=29 January 2019 |website=Daily Nation}}</ref>

In 2017, Kenyatta won a second term in office in another [[2017 Kenyan general election|disputed election]]. Odinga again petitioned the results in the Supreme Court, accusing the [[Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission]] of mismanagement of the elections and Kenyatta and his party of rigging. The Supreme Court overturned the election results in what became a landmark ruling in Africa and one of the very few in the world in which the results of a presidential elections were annulled.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Burke |first=Jason |date=25 October 2017 |title=Kenya election rerun to go ahead after court fails to rule on delay |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/25/kenya-presidential-election-rerun-to-go-ahead-supreme-court |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128001939/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/25/kenya-presidential-election-rerun-to-go-ahead-supreme-court |archive-date=28 January 2019 |access-date=29 January 2019 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> This ruling solidified the position of the Supreme Court as an independent body.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2017 |title=Kenya court decision demonstrates respect for rule of law {{!}} IDLO |url=https://www.idlo.int/kenya-court-decision-demonstrates-respect-rule-of-law |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130110210/https://www.idlo.int/kenya-court-decision-demonstrates-respect-rule-of-law |archive-date=30 January 2019 |access-date=29 January 2019 |website=idlo.int}}</ref> Consequently, Kenya had a second round of elections for the presidential position, in which Kenyatta emerged the winner after Odinga refused to participate, citing irregularities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Team |first=Standard |title=President Uhuru Kenyatta declared winner of repeat presidential election |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001258851/uhuru-kenyatta-wins-repeat-election-with-7-4-million-votes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130000122/https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001258851/uhuru-kenyatta-wins-repeat-election-with-7-4-million-votes |archive-date=30 January 2019 |access-date=29 January 2019 |website=The Standard}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Jina |date=30 October 2017 |title=President Uhuru Kenyatta declared winner of repeat presidential election |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/world/africa/kenya-election-kenyatta-odinga.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033311/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/world/africa/kenya-election-kenyatta-odinga.html |archive-date=25 July 2018 |access-date=29 January 2019 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

In March 2018, a historic [[2018 Kenya handshake|handshake]] between Kenyatta and his longtime opponent Odinga signalled a period of reconciliation followed by economic growth and increased stability.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Tom |date=1 November 2019 |title=Handshake ends crisis and leads to signs of progress in Kenya |url=https://www.ft.com/content/59339450-d555-11e9-8d46-8def889b4137 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514095330/https://www.ft.com/content/59339450-d555-11e9-8d46-8def889b4137 |archive-date=14 May 2021 |access-date=27 June 2021 |website=Financial Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-05-31 |title=The Handshake that Shaped a Nation |url=https://kenyaconnection.org/the-handshake-that-shaped-a-nation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423095259/https://kenyaconnection.org/the-handshake-that-shaped-a-nation/ |archive-date=23 April 2021 |access-date=2021-06-21 |website=Kenya Connection |language=en-US}}</ref> Between 2019 and 2021, Kenyatta and Odinga combined efforts to promote major changes to the Kenyan constitution, labelled the "Building Bridges Initiative" (BBI), saying that their efforts were to improve inclusion and overcome the country's winner-take-all election system that often resulted in post-election violence.<ref name="bbi_blocked_2021_05_14_bbc">Omondi, Ferdinand: [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57094387 "Kenya's BBI blocked in scathing court verdict for President Kenyatta,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514132005/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57094387|date=14 May 2021}} 14 May 2021, [[BBC News]] (Africa), retrieved 14 May 2021</ref><ref name="kenyan_court_2021_05_13_reuters">Miriri, Duncan: [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-politics-idAFKBN2CU24L "Kenyan court slams brakes on president's constitutional changes,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514144827/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-politics-idAFKBN2CU24L|date=14 May 2021}} 13 May 2021, [[Reuters News Service]], retrieved 14 May 2021</ref> The BBI proposal called for broad expansion of the legislative and executive branches, including the creation of a [[prime minister]] with two deputies and an official leader of the opposition, reverting to selecting cabinet ministers from among the elected Members of Parliament, establishment of up to 70 new [[constituencies]], and addition of up to 300 unelected members of Parliament (under an "[[affirmative action]]" plan).<ref name="bbi_blocked_2021_05_14_bbc" /><ref name="kenyan_court_2021_05_13_reuters" />

Critics saw this as an unnecessary attempt to reward political dynasties and blunt the efforts of Deputy President [[William Ruto|Willian Ruto]] (Odinga's rival for the next presidency) and bloat the government at an exceptional cost to the debt-laded country.<ref name="bbi_blocked_2021_05_14_bbc" /><ref name="kenyan_court_2021_05_13_reuters" /> Ultimately, in May 2021, the Kenyan High Court ruled that the BBI constitutional reform effort was unconstitutional, because it was not truly a [[popular initiative]], but rather an effort of the government.<ref name="bbi_blocked_2021_05_14_bbc" /><ref name="kenyan_court_2021_05_13_reuters" /> The court sharply criticized Kenyatta for the attempt, laying out grounds for his being sued, personally, or even [[Impeachment|impeached]] (though the Parliament, which had passed the BBI, was unlikely to do that). The ruling was seen as a major defeat for both Kenyatta (soon to leave office), and Odinga (expected to seek the presidency), but a boon to Odinga's future presidential-election rival, Ruto.<ref name="bbi_blocked_2021_05_14_bbc" /><ref name="kenyan_court_2021_05_13_reuters" /> On 20 August 2021, Kenya's Court of Appeal again upheld the High Court Judgment of May 2021, which was appealed by the BBI Secretariat.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 August 2021 |title=Kenyan court rejects disputed bid to change constitution |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/20/kenyan-court-rejects-disputed-bid-to-change-constitution |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210826074033/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/20/kenyan-court-rejects-disputed-bid-to-change-constitution |archive-date=26 August 2021 |access-date=27 August 2021 |website=Aljazeera}}</ref>

==== Presidency of William Ruto (2022-) ====

In August 2022, Deputy President William Ruto narrowly won the [[2022 Kenyan general election|presidential election.]] He took  50.5% of the vote. His main rival, Raila Odinga, got 48.8% of the vote.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kenya election result: William Ruto wins presidential poll |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62554210 |work=BBC News |date=15 August 2022 |access-date=19 August 2022 |archive-date=15 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815164106/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62554210 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the Afrobarometer survey 67.9% of Kenyan citizens participated in the last election( 2022) and 17.6% did not vote in the presidential election.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.afrobarometer.org/online-data-analysis/ | title=Analyse online | access-date=2 November 2023 | archive-date=2 November 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102121521/https://www.afrobarometer.org/online-data-analysis/ | url-status=live }}</ref> On 13 September 2022,  William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya's fifth president.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Obulutsa |first1=George |last2=Mersie |first2=Ayenat |title=William Ruto sworn in as Kenya's fifth president |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/william-ruto-be-sworn-kenyas-president-2022-09-13/ |work=Reuters |date=13 September 2022 |language=en |access-date=13 September 2022 |archive-date=5 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005113113/https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/william-ruto-be-sworn-kenyas-president-2022-09-13/ |url-status=live }}</ref>