List of heads of state of Kenya

This is a list of the heads of state of Kenya from the independence of Kenya in 1963 to the present day.

From 1963 to 1964 the head of state under the Kenya Independence Act 1963 was the Queen, Elizabeth II, who was also the monarch of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. The monarch was represented in Kenya by a Governor-General. Kenya became a republic under the Constitution of 1964 and the monarch and Governor-General were replaced by an executive President.

Monarch (1963–1964)

The succession to the throne was the same as the succession to the British throne.

Queen			Reign			Royal House	Prime Minister
#	Portrait	Name	Reign start	Reign end	Duration
1		Elizabeth II (1926–)	12 December 1963	12 December 1964	1 year	House of Windsor	Kenyatta

Governors-General

Standard of the Governor-General of Kenya

The Governor-General was the representative of the monarch in Kenya and exercised most of the powers of the monarch. The Governor-General was appointed for an indefinite term, serving at the pleasure of the monarch. After the passage of the Statute of Westminster 1931, the Governor-General was appointed solely on the advice of the Cabinet of Kenya without the involvement of the British government. In the event of a vacancy the Chief Justice served as Officer Administering the Government.

Status

  Denotes Chief Justice acting as Officer Administering the Government

Governor-General			Term of Office			Monarch	Prime Minister
#	Portrait	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Duration
1		Malcolm MacDonald (1901–1981)	12 December 1963	12 December 1964	1 year	Elizabeth II	Kenyatta

Republic

History of the presidency

Kenya has so far had a total of 4 presidents. The first President, Jomo Kenyatta was a Prime Minister before he became president. He served as Prime Minister from December 1963 till December 1964. During Jomo Kenyatta's regime there were no presidential elections until his death in August 1978, while on holiday. After this his vice-president, Daniel Arap Moi took over and a year after Kenyatta's death when the 1979 elections were held he was the only contestant.

He became the longest serving president, serving 24 years. During that time Kenya's economy faced severe stagnation and decline only to recover in the mid-2000s. The first multi-party elections since independence, were held in 1992 because Kenya was a one-party state before then. Even though they were the first multi-party elections in Kenya there were allegations of ballot-box stuffing and ethnic skirmishes. Elections were held again in 1997 with the same problems during which Moi still served as president till 2002 as the constitution had been renewed to limit presidential terms.

Mwai Kibaki won the elections 5 years later in 2002. The election of in 2007 was disputed during which over 1000 Kenyans died during the violence that occurred after elections which were said to be massively rigged. Mwai Kibaki still served but in a grand coalition government that included the opposition leader Raila Odinga serving as Prime Minister, he is the only other Kenyan Prime Minister after Jomo Kenyatta. The coalition government came from different points of view and thus didn't achieve much. In 2013 Kenya's biggest elections were held in which Uhuru Kenyatta (Incumbent) won with 50.07% of the vote.

Presidents

Under the 1964 constitution of the Republic of Kenya, the President replaced the monarch as executive head of state. The President was elected by Parliament for a five-year term. In the event of a vacancy the Deputy President served as Acting President.

Parties

      Kenya African National Union
      National Rainbow Coalition / Party of National Unity
      Jubilee Alliance

#	Portrait	Name	Term	Tenure		Election Year/Voter Percentage	Affiliation
1		Jomo Kenyatta (1893–1978)	1	12 December 1964	6 December 1969	1964 —	Kenya African National Union
			2	6 December 1969	14 October 1974	1969 — Unopposed
			3	14 October 1974	22 August 1978†	1974 — Unopposed
			The first President of the Republic of Kenya, he was also one of two of the only serving Prime Ministers of Kenya. Kenya was a one-party state until the Kenyan presidential election, 1992. There were also never any Presidential elections during his presidency. †Died in office while on tour in Mombasa in August, 1978.
2		Daniel arap Moi (1924– )	–	22 August 1978	8 November 1979	Acting	Kenya African National Union
			4	8 November 1979	26 September 1983	1979 — Unopposed [1]
			5	26 September 1983	21 March 1988	1983 — Unopposed [2]
			6	21 March 1988	29 December 1992	1988 — Unopposed [3]
			Daniel arap Moi was Vice-President under Jomo Kenyatta, and succeeded him on his death. He served at a time during which Kenya was a one-party state, and he ran unopposed for the 1979, 1983 and the 1988 Kenyan elections.
First Multi-Party Elections Held in 1992
(2)		Daniel arap Moi (1924– )	7	29 December 1992	29 December 1997	1992 — 36.4% 1,962,866	Kenya African National Union
			8	29 December 1997	29 December 2002	1997 — 40.6% 2,500,856
			Daniel arap Moi became the longest serving president, serving for 24 years. He stepped down after serving two 5-year terms in 2002, after the constitution was drafted to limit the terms one could serve as President of Kenya.
3		Mwai Kibaki (1931– )	9	29 December 2002	29 December 2007	2002 — 61.3% 3,647,658	National Rainbow Coalition (2002–2007)
			10	30 December 2007	3 April 2013	2007 — 47% 4,584,721	Party of National Unity (2007–2013)
			When Mwai Kibaki took office Kenya's economy was doing poorly, under his government by 2007 the economy had an average growth rate of 7.1%. Kibaki introduced the Kenya Vision 2030 Programme, an economic blueprint designed to steer Kenya into a middle income nation by 2030.
4		Uhuru Kenyatta (1961– )	11	4 April 2013	Incumbent	2013 — 50.07% 6,158,610	Jubilee Alliance
			The son of former President Jomo Kenyatta. First President of a devolved Kenya; i.e. after Counties of Kenya became operational.

Presidential Standards

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  Presidential Standard of Jomo Kenyatta.

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  Presidential Standard of Daniel Arap Moi.

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  Presidential Standard of Mwai Kibaki.

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  Presidential Standard of Uhuru Kenyatta, the current President.

Living former heads of state

Name	Term/Reign	Office	Date of birth
Elizabeth II	1963–1964	Queen of Kenya	April 21, 1926
Daniel arap Moi	1978–2002	President of Kenya	September 2, 1924
Mwai Kibaki	2002–2013	President of Kenya	November 15, 1931

External links

1. http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/kenya-achieves-independence
2. http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/kenya-achieves-independence
3. http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/kenya-achieves-independence

• World Statesmen – Kenya
• Rulers.org – Kenya