Independence Year : 1963
Population : 30080000
Life Expectancy : 48.0
Capital : 1881
GNP : 9217.00
GNP Old : 10241.00
Local Name : Kenya
Government Form : Republic
Location : Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania
Terrain : From a low coastal plain on the Indian Ocean in a series of mountain ridges and plateaus which stand above 3 000 meters (9 000 ft.) in the center of the country. The Rift Valley bisects the country above Nairobi, opening up to a broad aridplaininthenorth.
Climate : Varies from the tropical south, west, and central regions to arid and semi-arid in the north and the northeast.
Ethnic Group : African--Kikuyu 21%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 11%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 5%. Non-African--Asian, European, Arab 1%.
Religions : Protestant 40%, Roman Catholic 30%, Muslim 20%, indigenous beliefs 10%,
Official Website :
www.kenya.go.ke
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General Information - Kenya
Background
Revered president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence until his death in 1978, when 2nd 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 are viewed as having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people. President MOI stepped down in December of 2002 following fair and peaceful elections. Mwai KIBAKI, running as the candidate of the multiethnic, united opposition group, the National Rainbow Coalition, defeated KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an anticorruption platform.
(Source: CIA - The World Factbook)
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