52 Facts About Uhuru Kenyatta

Uhuru Kenyatta was defeated by the then opposition leader Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 election, and Kibaki was sworn in as the President.

Uhuru Kenyatta served as the member of parliament for Gatundu South from 2002 to 2013.

Uhuru Kenyatta served as Deputy Prime Minister to Raila Odinga from 2008 to 2013.

Uhuru Kenyatta was previously associated with the Kenya Africa National Union before founding The National Alliance, one of the allied parties that campaigned for his election during the 2013 election and later on went to form a merger with the United Republican Party led by William Ruto to form the Jubilee Party.

Uhuru Kenyatta has been married to Margaret Gakuo Kenyatta since 1991.

However, Uhuru Kenyatta's election was challenged in the Supreme Court of Kenya by his main competitor, Raila Odinga.

Uhuru Kenyatta was born on 26 October 1961, to the first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, and his fourth wife, Mama Ngina Kenyatta.

Uhuru Kenyatta's given name "Uhuru" is from the Swahili term for "freedom" and was given to him in anticipation of Kenya's upcoming independence.

Uhuru Kenyatta was nominated to Parliament in 2001, he then became the Minister for Local Government under President Daniel Arap Moi and, despite his political inexperience, was favoured by Moi as his successor.

Uhuru Kenyatta ran as KANU's candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to the opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki by a big margin.

Uhuru Kenyatta subsequently became Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.

Subsequently, Uhuru Kenyatta was Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012, while remaining Deputy Prime Minister.

Uhuru Kenyatta was elected as President of Kenya in the March 2013 presidential election, defeating Raila Odinga with a slim majority in a single round of voting.

Uhuru Kenyatta conceded defeat and took up an active leadership role as Leader of the Opposition.

In January 2005, Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Nicholas Biwott for chairmanship of KANU, taking 2,980 votes among party delegates against Biwott's 622 votes.

Uhuru Kenyatta led his party KANU in the referendum campaigns against the draft constitution in 2005, having teamed up with the Liberal Democratic Party, a rebel faction in the Kibaki government, to form the Orange Democratic Movement.

In November 2006, Uhuru Kenyatta was displaced as KANU leader by the late Nicholas Biwott.

Under an agreement between the two parties to end the chaos, Kibaki remained as president in a power sharing agreement with Raila as Prime Minister, while Uhuru Kenyatta was Kibaki's choice as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister For Finance in his share of Cabinet slots.

On 13 September 2007, Uhuru Kenyatta withdrew from the December 2007 presidential election in favour of Kibaki for re-election.

Uhuru Kenyatta said that he did not want to run unless he could be sure of winning.

Uhuru Kenyatta was the Deputy Prime Minister representing the PNU, while another Deputy Prime Minister, Musalia Mudavadi, represented the ODM.

Uhuru Kenyatta was later moved from Local Government and appointed Minister for Finance on 23 January 2009.

In 2013, Uhuru Kenyatta was elected as the 4th President of Kenya under The National Alliance, which was part of the Jubilee Alliance with his running mate William Ruto's United Republican Party.

Raila Amolo Odinga disputed the election results at the Supreme Court which however held that the election of Uhuru Kenyatta was valid and such irregularities as existed did not make a difference to the final outcome.

Uhuru Kenyatta was therefore sworn in as president on 9 April 2013.

Uhuru Kenyatta ran for president in the elections held on 4 March 2013 and garnered 6,173,433 votes out of the 12,338,667 votes cast.

Uhuru Kenyatta was, therefore, declared the fourth President of the Republic of Kenya by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

On 9 March 2018 Uhuru Kenyatta agreed on a truce between the opposition leader, Raila Odinga.

On 27 November 2019, Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Building Bridges Initiatives in Bomas of Kenya.

Uhuru Kenyatta was to appear at The Hague on 8 April 2011 alongside five other suspects.

On 29 September 2011, while seeking to exonerate himself, Uhuru Kenyatta put up a spirited fight as he was being cross-examined by ICC Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo in The Hague, denying any links with the outlawed Mungiki sect.

Uhuru Kenyatta said Prime Minister Raila Odinga should take political responsibility for the acts of violence and killings that followed the 2007 presidential elections in Kenya.

On 8 October 2014, Uhuru Kenyatta appeared before the ICC in The Hague.

Uhuru Kenyatta was called to appear at the ICC "status conference" when the prosecution said evidence needed to go ahead with a trial was being withheld.

Uhuru Kenyatta did not speak in court, but denied the charges in comments to journalists as he left the court to catch a flight back home.

On 20 May 2012, Uhuru Kenyatta attended the elaborately assembled and much-publicized launch of The National Alliance party in a modern high-tech dome at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.

Uhuru Kenyatta's presence at the TNA launch was a strong indication that he would contest for the party's presidential nomination ticket in his quest for the presidency in the 2013 General Elections.

Uhuru Kenyatta promised to improve the standards of education in Kenya.

Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in on 28 November 2017 for his second presidential term.

On 28 June 2018, Uhuru Kenyatta declared a major crackdown on corruption and stated that no one was immune from corruption charges in Kenya.

Uhuru Kenyatta stated his own brother Muhoho, a director in a company that had been accused in parliament of importing contraband sugar, should be charged if there is clear evidence against him.

On 14 January 2020, Uhuru Kenyatta replaced Rotich with Labour Secretary Ukur Yatani.

Uhuru Kenyatta owns a secret 'foundation' in Panama, holding over $30 million.

Uhuru Kenyatta's activities were more robust at the African level where he has pushed more intra-Africa trade and economic independence of African nations.

Uhuru Kenyatta successfully rallied the AU against the ICC culminating in an Extraordinary Summit of the African Heads of State which resolved that sitting African Heads of State should not appear before the ICC.

The Assembly of State Parties of the ICC would two days later amend the ICC statute to allow for one to appear by video link, a proposal President Uhuru Kenyatta had made when he was Deputy Prime Minister.

Uhuru Kenyatta led and negotiated peace agreements in South Sudan and in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Uhuru Kenyatta attended the funeral of Nelson Mandela and was received warmly by the crowds.

Uhuru Kenyatta attended the funeral of President Michael Sata of Zambia in November 2014.

Uhuru Kenyatta visited Botswana to remove this perception and Botswana voted in favor of the AU's ICC Resolution.

One of the leading national newspapers noted that Uhuru Kenyatta had been out of the country 43 times as of November 2015 in a period of about three years since he took office in 2013, as compared to 33 times over a span of 10 years by his predecessor Mwai Kibaki.

In October 2021, Uhuru Kenyatta was named in the Pandora Papers leak.