Kenya
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Kenya is a nation in eastern-Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania. Kenya is dominated by low plains which rise to central Kenyan highlands which are bisected by Great Rift Valley with a fertile plateau in west. The Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa. In the west of the country is Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile River. Glaciers are found on Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak. Kenya's unique physiography supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value.
Kenya's major environmental issues include: 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; and, poaching. It is susceptible to recurring drought; flooding during rainy seasons.
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 Kenyata 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. Kibaki's reelection in December 2007 brought charges of vote rigging from ODM candidate Raila Odinga and unleashed two months of violence in which as many as 1,500 people died. UN-sponsored talks in late February produced a powersharing accord bringing Odinga into the government in the restored position of prime minister.
Geography
Location: Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania
Geographic Coordinates: 1 00 N, 38 00 E
Area: 582,650 km2 (569,250 km2 land and 13,400 km2water)
arable land: 8.01%
permanent crops: 0.97%
other: 91.02% (2005)
Land Boundaries: 3,477 km. Border countries: Ethiopia 861 km, Somalia 682 km, Sudan 232 km, Tanzania 769 km, Uganda 933 km
Coastline: 536 km
Maritime Claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
Natural Hazards: recurring drought; flooding during rainy seasons
Terrain: Low plains rise to central highlands bisected by Great Rift Valley; fertile plateau in west. Its lowest point is Indian Ocean (0 metres) and its highest point is Mount Kenya (5,199 metres).
Climate: Varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior
Government
Government Type: Republic
Capital: Nairobi
Independence Date: 12 December 1963 (from UK)
Legal System: based on Kenyan statutory law, Kenyan and English common law, tribal law, and Islamic law; judicial review in High Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; constitutional amendment of 1982 making Kenya a de jure one-party state repealed in 1991
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
International environmental Agreements
Kenya is party to international agreements on: 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, and Whaling.
People and Society
Population: 37,953,838
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 42.2% (male 8,065,789/female 7,953,077)
15-64 years: 55.2% (male 10,498,468/female 10,434,764)
65 years and over: 2.6% (male 457,886/female 543,854) (2008 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 2.758% (2008 est.)
Birth Rate: 37.89 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death Rate: 10.3 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net Migration Rate: -1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 56.64 years (2008 est.)
Total Fertility Rate: 4.7 children born/woman (2008 est.)
Languages: English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages
Literacy(2003 est.): 85.1% (male: 90.6% - female: 79.7%)
Water
Total Renewable Water Resources: 30.2 cu km (1990)
Freshwater Withdrawal: Total: 1.58 cu km/yr (30% domestic, 6% industrial, 64% agricultural). Per capita: 46 cu m/yr (2000)
Agriculture
Agricultural Products: tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs
Irrigated Land: 1,030 sq km (2003)
Resources
Natural Resources: limestone, soda ash, salt, gemstones, fluorspar, zinc, diatomite, gypsum, wildlife, hydropower.
Energy
| Energy in Kenya | |||||
| Production | Consumption | Exports | Imports | Reserves | |
| Electricity | 5.502 billion kWh (2005) | 4.464 billion kWh (2005) | 0 kWh (2005) | 28 million kWh (2005) | |
| Oil | 0 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 64,000 bbl/day (2005 est.) | 8,563 bbl/day (2004) | 70,540 bbl/day (2004) | 0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.) |
| Natural Gas | 0 cu m (2005 est.) | 0 cu m (2005 est.) | 0 cu m (2005 est.) | 0 cu m (2005) | 0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
| Source: CIA Factbook | |||||
Health
Prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Adults: 6.7% (2003 est.)
Major Infectious Diseases: degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: malaria
water contact disease: schistosomiasis (2008)
Conflict
International Disputes: Kenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005; Kenya provides shelter to almost a quarter of a million refugees, including Ugandans who flee across the border periodically to seek protection from Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) 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 and Internally Displaced Persons: refugees (country of origin): 173,702 (Somalia); 73,004 (Sudan); 16,428 (Ethiopia)
Internally Displaced Persons: 250,000-400,000 (2007 post-election violence; KANU attacks on opposition tribal groups in 1990s) (2007)
Economy
The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspended Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption. A severe drought from 1999 to 2000 compounded Kenya's problems, causing water and energy rationing and reducing agricultural output. As a result, GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2000. The IMF, which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through the drought, again halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures. Despite the return of strong rains in 2001, weak commodity prices, endemic corruption, and low investment limited Kenya's economic growth to 1.2%. Growth lagged at 1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence, meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections. In the key December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. After some early progress in rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support, the Kibaki government was rocked by high-level graft scandals in 2005 and 2006. In 2006 the World Bank and IMF delayed loans pending action by the government on corruption. The international financial institutions and donors have since resumed lending, despite little action on the government's part to deal with corruption. The scandals have not weighed down growth, with estimated real GDP growth at more than 6 percent in 2007.
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $58.88 billion (2007 est.)
GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $29.3 billion (2007 est.)
GDP- real growth rate: 7% (2007 est.)
GDP- per capita (PPP): $1,700 (2007 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
agriculture: 23.8%
industry: 16.7%
services: 59.5% (2007 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line: 50% (2000 est.)
Industries: 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
Exports: tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement
Export Partners: Uganda 16.9%, UK 7%, Tanzania 8.2%, Netherlands 8.1%, US 6.4%, Pakistan 5.2% (2006)
Imports: machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics
Import Partners: UAE 11.4%, China 9.9%, India 8.7%, Saudi Arabia 8%, South Africa 6.3%, US 6.2%, Japan 5.9%, UK 4.7% (2006)
Economic Aid Recipient: $768.3 million (2005)
Currency: Kenyan shilling (KES)
Ports and Terminals: Mombasa
Further Reading