SUDAN
ETHIOPIA
NT
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Marsabit
UGANDA
Wajir
SOMALIA
KENYA
Kisumu
Nakuru
Lake Victoria
Garissa
NAIROBI
TANZANIA
Indian Ocean
Kenya, known as “the cradle of humanity”, is situated on the
east coast of Africa. It is bordered by Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan
to the north, Tanzania to the south and Uganda to the west.
It is a land of huge geographical contrasts ranging from deserts to
snow-capped mountains, sandy coastlines to freshwater lakes,
savannah grasslands to fertile agricultural plantations, and extinct
volcanoes to coral reefs. The Great Migration is a spectacular
natural event that takes places annually as millions of animals,
including enormous herds of wildebeasts, make the difficult
crossing between the Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve and the
Serengeti in Tanzania.
Kenya is home to over 42 different ethnic tribes including Kikuyu,
Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin, Kamba, Maasai and Samburu. This ethnic
diversity has produced a vibrant culture but is also a source of
conflict as was evidenced in the wide spread unrest following the
presidential elections in 2007.
Republic of Kenya
Population
38 million
Languages
English (Official), Kiswahili
(Official), 42 indigenous
languages
Religion
Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic
33%, Muslim 10%, Indigenous
10%, Other 2%
Literacy
Male 91%, Female 80%
Life Expectancy at birth
Male 58 years, Female 59 years
Population below the
Poverty Line
50%
Urbanization
22% of the population live in cities
Human Development
Index rating
(out of 182 countries)
128
Economically the country is Eastern and Central Africa’s hub for
financial, communication and transportation services and with
an increasing levels of computer literacy particularly among the
youth and a re-emerging tourist industry there is wide spread
hope for the growth of a vibrant ‘modern’ economy.
Although once heralded as the model for independent Africa,
Kenya’s economy has been negatively affected by ongoing
problems with corruption and in recent years, the global
financial crisis coupled with post election violence in 2008 and
severe drought in 2009, contributed to further economic woes.
It also faces some significant development challenges, including
a rapidly growing population, environmental degradation, crime
and food insecurity.
FAST FACTS:
• Kenya takes its name after Mount Kenya, whose name in
three of the countries indigenous languages means “place
with ostriches.“
• According to popular myth, Queen Victoria gave a gift of
Mount Kilimanjaro, one of her two mountains, to her
grandson Kaiser Wilhelm, thus determining the border of
Kenya and Tanzania.
• The colours of Kenya’s flag black, red, green and white
symbolize; the people of Kenya (black), the blood shed in the
struggle for freedom (red), the natural wealth of the country
(green), and peace (white). The shield and crossed spears
symbolize the defense of freedom
• The motto of the country is the Swahili word Harambee
which means “let’s all pull together.”
• The Big Five of wildlife; leopard, lion, elephant, rhino and
buffalo can all be found in Kenya making it a very attractive
tourist location for safaris.
• Great Rift Valley is known as the “Cradle of Humanity”, a site
where palaeontologists found some of the earliest evidence
of our human ancestry.
KENYAN LEADERS….
Jomo Kenyatta was the first Prime Minister (1963–1964) and
President (1964–1978) of Kenya. Following the rise of infamous
Mau Mau Rebellion in 1951, Jomo Kenyatta was arrested and
sentenced to seven years imprisonment with hard labour. He was
released in 1961 and was elected Prime Minister. He continued to
campaign for Independence and remained Prime Minister
following Kenyan Independence in 1963. Jomo Kenyatta became
the first President of the new Republic of Kenya in 1964. He
served three terms and remained President until his death in 1978.
Daniel Arap Moi former vice president, succeeded Kenyatta as
President of Kenya in 1978 and remained in office until 2002. Moi
is a member of the Kalenjin tribe. There have been many reports of
widespread corruption and human rights abuse during his reign in
office. 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. President Moi finally stepped
down in December 2002 following fair and peaceful elections.
Mwai Kibaki President Mwai Kibaki, running as the candidate of
the multiethnic, united opposition group, the National Rainbow
Coalition (NARC), assumed the presidency following a campaign
centered on an anticorruption platform. Kibaki‘s NARC coalition
splintered in 2005 after failing to agree on the constitutional review
process to produce a new Constitution for Kenya. Government
defectors joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition, the
Orange Democratics Movement, Kibaki‘s re-election in December
2007 brought charges of vote rigging.
Raila Odinga Raila Odinga, a member of the Luo tribe, ran as the
candidate of the Orange Democratic Movement against Mwai
Kibaki in the 2007 elections. The disputed election unleashed two
months of violence in which as many as 1,500 people died. UNsponsored talks in late February produced a powersharing
accord, bringing Odinga into the government in the restored
position of prime minister.
Election Violence
Kenya held the fourth multiparty
General Election on 27th December,
2007. After the incumbent President
Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner
of a hotly disputed election, supporters
of his opponent Raila Odinga,
protested against the result. A dispute
that followed announcement of the
results, quickly degenerated into an
unprecedented seven-week long spate
of violence in many parts of the
country, especially in Nyanza , Odinga’s
home district, Rift Valley, Coast,
Western, and Nairobi Provinces. Tribal
tensions escalated into ethnic violence.
Within a very short period of time,
numerous shops, commercial outlets
were looted, crops destroyed and people
uprooted, with tens of thousands fleeing
ethnically fuelled and hate motivated
attacks. The social and economic life of
the country was torn apart.
Attacks against members of the
Kikuyu tribe happened around the
country, especially in areas like the Rift
Valley, which had seen outbreaks of
violence in the past after previous
elections. The Kikuyu tribe, the tribe of
President Kibaki, were viewed by some,
as favoured against others.
In the slums, the existing problems of
criminal gangs, combined with general
anger against poverty and living
conditions led to intense ethnic
violence.
The violence led to an estimated loss
of 1,200 lives and an estimated
500,000 people displaced. One of the
worst atrocities of this time was the
killing of over 30 people in a church in
Eldordet on New Year’s Day. A further
12,000 refugees fled across the border
to Tanzania and Uganda and over
41,000 properties were destroyed.
After nearly a month of violence,
former Secretary General of the UN,
Kofi Annan, arrived in Kenya and
brought the two sides together for talks.
This resulted in Kibaki and Odinga
signing a power sharing agreement
called the National Accord and
Reconciliation Act. Under this
agreement, Raila Odinga conceeded
the election and Mwai Kibaki was
reinstated as President, with Odinga
appointed as Prime Minister.
In August of 2010, President Kibaki
signed the new constitution of Kenya,
replacing the first constitution.
Supporters of the new constitution
hope that it will help improve human
rights in Kenya.
KEY DATES
IN KENYA’S HISTORY
1895 – Early 1900’s: Formation of British East
African Protectorate. White settlers move into highlands,
railway built from Mombasa to Lake Victoria.
1944: Kenyan African Union (KAU) formed to campaign
for African independence. Three years later Jomo Kenyatta
becomes KAU leader.
1952: Secret Kikuyu guerrilla group known as Mau Mau
begins violent campaign against white settlers. State of
emergency is declared and Kenyatta arrested and jailed for
6 years, the KAU are banned.
1956: Mau Mau rebellion is put down after thousands
killed, a state of emergency is declared.
1960: State of emergency ends. Britain announces plans
to prepare Kenya for majority African rule. Kenya African
National Union (Kanu) formed by Tom Mboya and Oginga
Odinga.
1963/1964: Kenya gains independence on December
12th, 1963. The Republic of Kenya is formed Jomo Kenyatta
becomes president and Odinga vice-president.
1978: Kenyatta dies in office and is succeeded by VicePresident Daniel arap Moi.
1992: Against a background of international events
including the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa and
the fall of Communism, the first multi-party elections since
1966 are held following a campaign by prominent
politicians.
1997: December – Moi wins further term in widelycriticised elections. His main opponents are former
vice-president Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, son of
Oginga Odinga.
1998: August – Bomb explodes at US embassy in Nairobi,
killing 224 people and injuring thousands.
2002: November – 10 Kenyans, three Israelis are killed
when an Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa is blown up by
a car bomb. A simultaneous rocket attack on an Israeli
airliner fails. A statement – purportedly from al-Qaeda –
claims responsibility.
2002: December – Opposition presidential candidate
Mwai Kibaki wins a landslide victory over Kanu rival Uhuru
Kenyatta, ending Daniel arap Moi’s 24-year rule and Kanu’s
four decades in power.
2003: November – International Monetary Fund (IMF)
resumes lending after three-year gap, citing anti-corruption
measures.
2004: July-August – Food crisis, caused by crop failures
and drought, dubbed “national disaster” by President
Kibaki. UN launches aid appeal for vulnerable rural
Kenyans.
2004: October – Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai wins
the Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign to save Africa’s
trees and for promoting social, economic and cultural
reforms that are ecologically viable. She is the first African
woman and environmentalist to win the prestigious award.
2007: December - Disputed presidential elections lead to
violence in which more than 1,500 people die.
2009: Government says that at least 10 million people, or
one third of the population, are in need of food aid. The
government mobilises the military to distribute food, water
and medicines to areas hit hardest by drought.
2010: August - New constitution designed to limit the
powers of the president and devolve power to the regions
approved in referendum.
“That Kenya is made up of only two tribes –
the rich and the poor – is a well-known
phrase.The middle class is expanding but
there are still gaping disparities and a tiny
élite effectively controls the economy.”
New Internationalist Magazine
Concern in Kenya
‘Informal Settlements’ (Slums)
Concern along with local partners has been working in Kenya since
2002 in the areas of education, HIV and AIDS, Health and Nutrition,
Food and Income production and Emergency relief. In 2010 our
work directly impacted on over 50,000 households.
Kenya’s capital city Nairobi has some of the most dense,
unsanitary and insecure slums in the world usually
referred to as ‘informal settlements’. Almost half of the
city’s population lives in over 100 slums and squatter
settlements within the city, with little or inadequate access
to safe water and sanitation (UN-Habitat). The slums
suffer from a lack of infrastructure and services, including
water, electricity, health services, and law enforcement.
The living conditions in this settlements are deplorable,
with toilets in short supply, safe water unavailable, and
garbage collection virtually nonexistent. Housing is
extremely poor, with many residents living in one room
houses made of semi-permanent materials such as mud,
wooden planks or metal sheets. (APHRC, 2002)
Mobile phones…to the rescue
After the post-election violence in 2008,
Concern needed a way to help people in the
Kerio Valley. Food was scarce. So, the Kerio
Valley cash transfer pilot was launched.
Concern worked with the Catholic Diocese of
Eldoret and a mobile phone operator,
Safaricom. Together, they developed a system
that enabled cash transfers via text messages
on mobile phones. People receiving the texts
could use them to withdraw cash from mobile
banks. This cash was then used to buy
whatever supplies each person and their
(Photo: Concern 2008)
family needed. Not everyone had a phone, so
phones were sometimes shared between communities. It was found
that the freedom to choose what they needed led to a sense of
empowerment and dignity among recipients. An evaluation also
found 70% of the cash was spent on food, with the remaining 30%
spent on transport and other essential supplies.
Sote Kilelit (pictured) is one of thousands of people who were
displaced after election violence erupted after elections in late 2007.
There was plenty of food in the markets, but no money to buy it.
Concern, working in partnership with Kenya’s Safaricom has sent
text messages to over 15000 families in the past two years that
enabled them to collect cash locally (1500 Kenyan Shillings or
€13.60) to buy urgently needed food and supplies.
Find out more about Concern’s work in Kenya go to
www.concern.net/kenya
Environment
In 2004, Kenya made international headlines
when one of its own won the prestigious Nobel
Peace Prize.Wangari Maathai, the first Kenyan
woman to earn a Ph.D. in East Africa, was also
the first African woman to win the Nobel
Peace Prize in the seldom recognized field of
the environment.
She was recognized for her work as founder of
the Green Belt Movement, a non-governmental
organization that empowers women to take ownership of their
environment by planting trees to combat deforestation while providing fuel
wood and food.
Forest cover in Kenya has declined from 15 per cent of the total land
area 50 years ago to just 2 per cent today.
With only 8 percent of arable land and 75 percent of Kenya’s
workforce engaged in agriculture, Kenyan farmers face growing problems
of soil erosion, deforestation, water pollution, and desertification. While
the impacts of climate change may be responsible for Kenya’s severe
droughts, current farming practices are also leading to the growth of
environmental problems. Rampant pesticide use contaminates water
resources while food production has declined due to soil erosion.
Weaning farmers off of unsustainable methods is a difficult task in any
circumstance, much less during times of economic desperation. Farming
and daily life are also complicated by sharing the land with abundant
wildlife. Human-wildlife conflicts have been increasing as most of Kenya’s
traditional nomadic tribes are settling onto permanent plots of land and
taking up farming. Source: Foundation for Sustainable Development
Although burning wood for charcoal is illegal in Kenya, it is not as
strictly enforced as in the neighbouring Tanzania. Many Maasai
tribespeople living close to the Tanzanian border, cross in search of
firewood as their own stocks become depleted.
Mukuru Slum, Nairobi, Kenya. July 2009 Fionnagh Nally
Education
Primary education has been free in Kenya since 2003.
However children living in city slums have had almost no
access to government supported education programmes.
They are considered to be
squatters on state land, and are
therefore not entitled to public
services like education. Concern
takes a different view we believe
that all children, regardless of their
circumstances, have the right to
education as protected by
international law.
Concern along withlocal
partners has started a campaign
to make sure that every child living
in slums should have access to
Students in Concern education
primary education by 2015. The
programme, Nairobi credit
Danny Rowan 2007
campaign is attempting to do this
by empowering communities in
the slums to demand this education for their own children.
People living in these areas receive training, support and
advice so they can demand and influence change.
The campaign will benefit 300,000 children in slum areas
and over 1.5 million children who are currently out of school
by ensuring that the government delivers on education and
institutional reforms so that all children have access to quality,
free education.
Follow the campaign by visiting
www.usbeckenya.org
CASE STUDY: PAUL
In the District of Kadjiado, south of Nairobi, Kenya lies the small Maasai village of Lenkiseme.
Just beside the village is the Lenkiseme Clinic. It is deep in the African bush and far from
paved roads. The soil is red and dry. A combination of drought and cutting down trees for
charcoal has stripped this land of trees and many families have left in search of better land
for their cattle.
Here, Concern trained clinic staff to treat the effects of severe malnutrition in infants and children
under the age of five. Mothers brought their babies in for check-ups and immunisation. The team
helped weigh the babies and showed clinic staff how to indentify malnutrition. The team identified
one case of severe malnutrition in a three year boy named Paul.
His mother had given birth three months previously and the clinic staff were aware that the baby
was not developing well and that the family appeared to be struggling. Paul is one of three
children. His grandmother, Norkonani, had brought Paul to the clinic. She told us that they had
been living on just black tea.
Paul and his grandmother, Lankiseme
Health Center, Kadjiado
District, Kenya August 2009. Photo by
Paul’s family live in Tibilet. It is an area with just bush around, far from anywhere. Paul’s
Fionnagh Nally
grandmother carried him to Lankiseme clinic which is 19km from where they live. It would have taken
her between 3 and 4 hours to walk there, carrying Paul.
He was admitted to the programme and when they had both washed their hands, the staff checked to see if Paul had an appetite and if he
would eat the Plumpy nut. He quickly took the package for himself and ate. The grandmother was given a supply of plumpy nut for Paul and
instructed on how often and how much he should have.
Paul and his grandmother, Lankiseme Health Center, Kadjiado District, Kenya August 2009. Photo by Fionnagh Nally
Providing training and supplies of plumpy nut had a profound impact on the lives of those in need. Similar Concern programmes across Kenya
have helped over 100,000 women and children like Paul receive treatment and support.
Despite some improvement in 2010 it is feared that insufficient rains will once again cause serious food shortages.
Films and Books
Born Free, the true life tale of Elsa the lioness, raised from a cub by Joy and George Adamson. The story follows Elsa who is
rescued as a cub and raised by the couple. They make the difficult decision as Elsa matures, to return her to the wild, a big
challenge for both the lioness and her owners. The 1966 film starred Virginia McKenna and was based on the book, Born Free by
Joy Adamson.
The Constant Gardener is a film based on the book of the same name by author John Le Carre. It is the fictional story of a British
diplomat who becomes embroiled in a tale of corruption and deceit in his hunt to discover the truth behind his wife’s murder. It was
filmed on location in Kenya at Lake Turkana and Nairobi. Locals were used as extras in the scenes shot in the Kibera slums.
Out of Africa (1985) starred Robert Redford and Meryl Streep and won seven academy awards, including the Best Picture Oscar.
It is based on the autobiographical novel by Baroness Karen Blixen, a native of Denmark, who managed a coffee plantation near
Nairobi in 20th century colonial Kenya for over 20 years. Her old house, restored now and containing many props from the film, can
be visited as museum.
The Ghost and the Darkness is the 1996 film loosely based on the true life tale of the man eating Tsavo lions. It is set during the
building of the African Uganda-Mombasa Railway in 1898. The railway, known to some as the Lunatic Land, was being built to
supply the interior with a link to the coast. It ran into difficulties during the building of the bridge at Tsavo when a notorious pair of
maneless male lions terrorised the camps, killing and eating approximately 140 workers before they were finally shot and killed by
Lt Col Patterson.
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VISIT: The education campaign website www.usbeckenya to
support the right of children living in slums to a decent education
SUPPORT: Concern’s ongoing relief and development efforts
in Kenya. Visit www.concern.net/kenya
CONTACT: Your local TD or MEP to ensure ongoing support
from the Irish government for the world’s poorest people
Produced by the Concern Active Citizenship Unit, January, 2011
Written by Fiona Nally and Michael Doorly