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| KENYA MAP. CREDIT: CIA WORLD FACTBOOK |
FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
On the Occasion of the Republic of Kenya's National Day
Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
December 11, 2012
On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I am delighted to send best wishes to the people of Kenya as you celebrate 49 years of independence this December 12. Jamhuri Day is an opportunity for Kenyans to honor your commitment to liberty, democracy, and statehood and to look toward the historic challenges and opportunities of the year ahead.
Kenya's national elections on March 4, 2013, are an opportunity for Kenya to take another bold step in implementing its new constitution and strengthening its democracy. We hope that all Kenyans, no matter their gender, ethnicity, religion, or geographic affiliation, will exercise their right to vote and help ensure Kenya’s elections are free, fair, and peaceful. The United States is a friend and partner, and we stand together with all Kenyans committed to the promise of the new constitution.
Congratulations on this special day, and best wishes for a year filled with peace and prosperity.
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| KENYA LOCATOR MAP. CREDIT: CIA WORLD FACTBOOK. |
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM CIA WORLD FACTBOOK.
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 KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an anticorruption platform. KIBAKI's NARC coalition splintered in 2005 over a constitutional review process. Government defectors joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), 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 2008 produced a power-sharing accord bringing ODINGA into the government in the restored position of prime minister. Kenya in August 2010 adopted a new constitution that eliminates the role of prime minister after the next presidential election.
