A Over the Kenya - Research Paper Example

Introduction to Political Science 7 December Country Profile After doing a research over the internet on the African countries, I realized that very few stand out in terms of development and democracy. Kenya belongs to some of the elite countries in Africa and is a good example that stands out. Kenya has been billed as one of the fastest rising economies in the Eastern Africa region and also in the Africa has a whole. According to New York Times, “Kenya is one of the one of the most developed and economically robust nations in Africa…” further more Kenya is always well known for its wildlife and national parks. Kenya is a country situated in the eastern coast of Africa and lies on the equator. The country hares borders with five countries; Tanzania lies to the South, Uganda lies to the West, South Sudan to the North-West, Ethiopia lies to the North part of Kenya while Somalia lies to the North-Eastern side of the country. (Pateman, 28). The Republic of Kenya has a total land area of 582,684 square km. (224,960 square miles) this is nearly the same size as Texas. The country got its name from Mount Kenya, which is quite a significant landmark and is the second highest mountain peak in Africa. The capital city of Kenya is Nairobi which is also the largest city in the Eastern Africa region. HISTORY The history of Kenya can be evidently be traced in the late 1800s when the Kenya-Uganda railways was being constructed by the British. Before then, the country was under the Protectorate of Sultan of Zanzibar who handed over the country to the Germans. The Germans later handed over the country to Imperial British East Africa which was in charge of constructing the railways going through the two countries (from Kenya to Uganda). Later on after the First World War and the completing of the Kenya-Uganda railways most of the British and European settlers in the early 20th century chose to settle in the country especially the central highlands this was in order for them to practice farming and grow coffee and tea. This in did not go down well with the locals as they felt their lands had been grabbed by the colonialists who had forbidden them from cultivating their lands by imposing huge taxes soon their houses and farming. The natives later started a resistance and they called the resistance Mau Mau Rebellion. From the October of 1952 to December 1959 the country was under the state of emergency and the Mau Mau fighters were engaged in guerrilla war against British rule. The capture of key Mau Mau fighters led to the war ending and thereafter the first direct elections for the Africans in the Legislative Council was held in the 1957 and in December 12th 1963 Kenya gained independence from Britain and also formed their first constitution on the same day. (YouTube) and (Pateman). One year later on 12th December 1964 Kenya was declared a republic. The first president of the country was Jomo Kenyatta who was the president until his untimely death in 1978. Daniel Arap Moi took over the country from 1978 until 2002 when a new political revolution led by the current president Mwai Kibaki won the election took over. In 2007 there was a massive ethnic unrest and political violence after different political parties accused the current president of rigging the election, this led to approximately more than 1000 people being killed and more than 60,000 displaced in the ethnic violence that was the aftermath of the flawed election. President Mwai Kibaki is expected to hand over the presidency in 2013. STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT Kenya is a democratic republic in the sense that the president is both the head of state and also he is the head of the government. The country has also a multi party system of politics. After the 2007 ethnic clashes caused by the elections, there has been constitutional amendments that enabled the sharing of the executive powers between the two political rivals in the government that is the President and the Prime Minister. The executive power is mainly exercised by the government and the power is shared between the two chief principals where the Prime Minister coordinates and also supervises the cabinet made up of ministers. The legislative decision and power is vested upon the government and also the National Assembly consisting of elected members of parliament from different constituencies in the country. The judiciary is independent form the executive powers and also the legislature. The new constitution that Kenya uses was promulgated on 27th August in 2010 after a referendum was held on August 4th 2010 in order to adopt the constitution or not. (Daily Nation 2010). This was highly praised by other African leaders and the international community who hailed it as the Second Republic being born.(Gettleman 2010) Under the new constitution the country is divided into 47 semi- autonomous counties that will be headed by governors who will be first elected in the forthcoming election on March 4th 2013 under the new constitution. Before then the country was comprising of 8 provinces each headed by a Provincial Commissioner who was appointed by the president then the province was further divided into districts then divisions and the divisions further sub divided into location then sub locations. POPULATION The last census conducted in the country was done in 2009 and the result was that the country had a population of approximately 38 million people. Currently according to Wikipedia the population is close to 41 million this is also supported by the tradingeconomics.com that estimates the number to be 41.1 million and further says that this represent 0.60 percent of the world population therefore in every 168 people arguably one is a Kenyan resident. The country is made up of up to 42 indigenous tribes with each spread out across the country in different regions. The diverse tribes are further placed in the larger Bantu, Nilotes, Cushites and Semites. Each tribe has its native language Furthermore there are Indians and Europeans native of Kenya making nearly 1 or 2 percent of the overall population of Kenya. The official language is English and also Swahili which is the most popular language in East Africa spoken in nearly all the eastern Africa countries. Apart from the ethnic clashes in the run up of 2007 elections, Kenya does not have ethnic clashes although the gap between the rich and poor is growing steadily over a period of time. Kenya is also predominantly a Christian country with Islam also practiced especially in the coastal region of the country. The Hindus too have a great presence especially in the major town and the country does not discriminate on the basis of religion. ECONOMY Kenya is one of the biggest and most developed economy in the eastern and central Africa. Within the last decade the country has seen a lot of improvement and expansion with one of the key economy drivers being the tourism and services sector. ”Indeed, independent Kenya is usually identified by contemporary observers as the one of the most capitalist African states…” (Ochieng 1992) The tourism sector contributes more than 60 percent of the overall GDP making it the biggest contributor to the economy and the biggest foreign exchange earner with the tourist attracted by the country diverse flora and fauna from the coastal beaches to the game reserves in the country (Saffer 2000). Another biggest GDP contributor is the agricultural sector with mainly horticultural produce, and other cash crops like tea and coffee being exported to most European countries. Manufacturing and industrial sector is the third most influential foreign exchange earner but the industries are mostly concentrated around the urban centers and towns. Early 2012 the country, after much oil exploration struck oil in the North western part of the country in Turkana and plans are underway to start the oil production fully in three years time. (BBC News). SOCIETY One of the staple foods is called ‘Ugali’ which is basically a ground corn that is cooked into a thick mould and served hot with vegetables or stew. Each region has a varied food that is preferred therefore not all regions have the same type of liking to a particular kind of food. One of the most famous communities from Kenya is the Maasai community well known by their colorful dressing and their physique; lean upper body. This enables them to jump high approximately their height; their culture also includes drinking raw blood from a cow either mixed with milk or herbs. With the advent of technology the country has made use of a mobile money transfer platform that has enabled the rural folks to receive and send money from anywhere in the country easily through any mobile form. There are many vernacular stations that broadcast in their native language and with this most of these stations play popular music from each region although for the urban youth, the urban station play international music and also local music sang in the colloquial Swahili called ‘Sheng’ which is basically a mixture of English and Swahili. Kenya is well known for the long distance runners that have dominated the athletics scene from time immemorial with the likes of the legendary Kipchoge Keino and recently the London Olympic 800 meters world record holder David Rudisha. Their biggest rivals in the athletics happen to be their neighbors, Ethiopia who also dominate the long distance tracks. Soccer is popular although eh country has been performing dismally for sometime now. Rugby is very popular; the current national sevens team is among the top four teams worldwide in the 2012/2013 IRB series. CURRENT DOMESTIC ISSUES With the country scheduled to have an election in three months time under the new constitution, the citizens ill be electing leaders under the new constitution. The president will have limited powers unlike the previous regime. In addition to elections, the country is having a major infrastructure development with roads being developed with the partnership of donor countries. One of the projects by the Kenyan government is the northern corridor which is meant to link the Southern Africa to the Northern part of the Africa through road and rail and already the project is well underway expected to be completed by 2017. INTERNATIONAL EVENTS The country was very vital in the peace signing agreement between Southern Sudan and Northern Sudan furthermore it is involved in the structuring of the new African nation (South Sudan). With the civil unrest in the neighboring country; Somalia, Kenya in conjunction with other African countries have brought peace in Somalia and helped wipe out the Somalia insurgent group, Al Shabaab, this has been at a price as numerous attacks have been made in the country by the insurgents in retaliation to the Kenya occupation in Somalia. CONCLUSION Kenya is one of the fastest growing economy however the political turmoil in the late 2007 nearly brought the country to its knees therefore with the election around the corner (March 2012), most international community will be looking at the outcome and how the elections will be conducted whether it will be fair, failure to have a free and fair elections will lead to a collapse to the economy especially the tourism sector which is the biggest foreign exchange earner. The country also need to diversify the economy in that tourism should not be the only highest GDP earner instead a lot of infrastructure and policies need to be put in place in order to make the agricultural sector be self sustaining especially in the domestic food production. This will reduce the level of people living in poverty and they will be productive in the agricultural sector. With a fair election process, the new constitution will increase the productivity in the country and therefore it will be better developed than most of the countries in the region. Works Cited Gettleman, Jeffrey . Kenyans Approve New Constitution: New York Times 5 August 2010. Web. 7 Dec, 2012. Kenya 2009 Population & Housing Census Results. Ministry of Planning. 2009. Web. 7 Dec. 2012. Kenya. New York Times, 30 Sep 2012. Web. 7 Dec 2012 Kenya Oil Discovery after Tullow Oil Drilling. BBC News, 26 March 2012. Web. 7 Dec. 2012 Kenyan Independence Clip. YouTube. Web.7 Dec. 2012. Kenyan Population. Tradingeconomics.com.Web. 7 Dec, 2012. Kenyan Referendum Date Set. Daily Nation, 14 May 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2012. Ochieng', William R, and Robert M. Maxon. An Economic History of Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya: East African Educational Publishers, 1992. Print. Pateman, Robert. Kenya. New York: Benchmark Books, 2003. Print. Saffer, Barbara. Kenya. Mankato, Minn: Capstone Books, 2000. Print Read More