President of Kenya

The Presidential Standard

The President is the head of state and government, as in most republics. He is also the Commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defence Forces.

The President has the power to appoint every leader within the executive including Cabinet Secretaries and the Attorney General of Kenya.

Kenya has had a total of 4 presidents. Two of the former Presidents, Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel arap Moi (deceased). The longest serving president was Moi who served for a total of 24 years.

The National Assembly with at least a third of all the members, may set in motion an act to impeach the President. The National Assembly may do so on the grounds of gross violation of the Constitution or any other law, where there is reasons to believing that the President has committed a crime under national or international law or for gross misconduct.

If the motion to impeach passes in the National Assembly the act to impeach moves to the Senate and if at least two-thirds of all the members of the Senate vote to uphold any impeachment charge, the President shall cease to hold office. Removal of President by impeachment - Kenya Law Reform Commission

The person to be elected as president should be a Kenyan citizen by birth,[3] who can be elected as member of parliament and has been nominated by a political party or stand as independent candidate. The candidate should also have been nominated by more than two thousand voters in twenty-four counties.[4][5][6]

A Candidate will be disqualified to run for presidency if they have allegiance to a foreign state or is working for the government in any capacity as a public officer. Being a public officer is not applicable to the incumbent president.[4][7][8]

A president is eligible for two consecutive terms of five years each starting from the date the president is sworn in.[9][10]

The following are the roles of the president of Kenya:[11]

• The president will be responsible for addressing new parliament and report once to special parliamentary seating concerning issues of national value and governance[12][13][14]
• The nominating authority of cabinet secretaries, attorney general, principle secretaries and high commissioners in accordance to constitution[12]
• Chair cabinet meetings and oversee the running of operations in various ministries and government departments.[12]
• The president may also undertake any other executive functions as permitted by the constitution.[12]

Kenya's 1963 independence constitution was based on the standard "Lancaster House template" used for the former British colonies in Africa, was subject to early amendments, and was replaced in 1969.

Under the Constitution of Kenya, the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, was represented as head of state by a Governor-General of Kenya. The Constitution also provided for a bicameral parliament, the National Assembly, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Each province had an elected assembly.

In 1964, the Constitution was amended to make the country a republic with the President as both head of state and head of government, and in 1966, the membership of the Senate and House of Representatives was combined to form a unicameral National Assembly.

The constitution of Kenya is the supreme law of the Republic of Kenya. There have been three significant versions of the constitution, with the most recent redraft being enabled in 2010. The 2010 edition replaced the 1963 independence constitution. The constitution was presented to the Attorney General of Kenya on 7 April 2010, officially published on 6 May 2010, and was subjected to a referendum on 4 August 2010.

The new constitution was approved by 67% of Kenyan voters. The constitution was promulgated on 27 August 2010.

Constitutional reforms involving wholly new texts since gaining independence: in 1969 and in 2010. In 1969, the 1963 independence constitution was replaced with a new text that entrenched amendments already made to the system of government that the independence constitution had contemplated.[lower-alpha 1]

These changes included: changing the structure of the state from a federal, or Majimbo system, to a unitary system; creating a unicameral instead of bicameral legislature; changing from a parliamentary to a semi-presidential system with a powerful presidency; and reducing the protections of the bill of rights. Further amendments to the 1969 constitution were later effected, including, in 1982, the institution of a de jure single party government.

The demand for a new constitution to replace the 1969 text with a more democratic system began in the early 1990s, with the end of the Cold War and democratic changes taking place elsewhere in Africa. The single party system was ended in 1991, and the first presidential election took place in 1992. Calls for a comprehensive review of the 1969 Constitution intensified in the late 1990s and early 2000s, helped by the victory of the opposition National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) party in the 2002 general elections. Official and civil society consultation processes led to the adoption of what became known as the "Bomas draft" constitution (after the location of the conference that adopted it). However, substantial amendments were nonetheless made to this draft prior to a referendum in 2005, resulting in a split in the then ruling coalition. The Liberal Democratic Party faction of the government, led by Raila Odinga, and supported by KANU led a successful 'No' vote against the amended Bomas Draft (called the Wako draft after the alleged mastermind of the changes). The review of the Constitution stalled and negotiations over the adoption of a new text seemed deadlocked. A deadlock only finally broken by the intervention of the African Union through a mediation team headed by Kofi Annan, following the outbreak of serious post-election violence in early 2008.

The key changes proposed by the new constitution released are in the following areas:

• Separation of Powers between the Three arms of government i.e. Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.
• The Executive – who holds executive authority and the qualifications.
• The Legislature – the composition, and representation of the people. An introduction of an upper house – the Senate.
• The Judiciary – qualations to hold office and appointment.
• Devolution – only two levels of Government: National and Counties.
• Citizenship – among other issues, gender discrimination was ended, and citizens who acquire foreign citizenship will not lose their Kenyan citizenship.

Devolution to the county governments will only be autonomous in implementation of distinct functions as listed in the Fourth Schedule (Part 2). This is in contrast with the Federal System in which Sovereignty is Constitutionally divided between the Federal government and the States. The Kenyan Devolution system still maintains a Unitary Political Concept as a result of distribution of functions between the two levels of government under the Fourth schedule and also as result of Article 192 which gives the president the power to suspend a county government under certain conditions.

A conflict of laws between the two levels of government is dealt with under Article 191 where National legislation will in some cases override County legislation. The relationship between the National Government and the Counties can be seen as that of a Principal and a limited autonomy Agent as opposed to an Agent and Agent relation in the Federal System.

More checks and balances have been introduced as requirements for accountability of both levels of government. The Parliament( Senate and National Assembly) has much discretion on the budgetary allocations to the County Governments. Every Five years the Senate receives recommendations from the Commission of Revenue Allocation (Article 217) and a resolution is passed on the criteria for Revenue allocation.

The National Government is constitutionally barred from intruding wilfully with the county government role and function under the Fourth Schedule. Exceptions may require parliamentary approval (Article 191 and 192). The National Government has a role to play in the County level by performing all the other functions that are not assigned to the County Government[23] as listed on the Fourth Schedule (Part 1).

The president is elected by popular vote in the general election held during August every 5 years. For the first time in the history of any African country, the 2017 general election was annulled. For the election of the president to be determined valid, they must have[24][25]

• More than half of all the votes cast in the election
• At least twenty-five per cent of the votes cast in each of more than half of the counties.[26]

• 
  Presidential Standard of Jomo Kenyatta.
• 
  Presidential Standard of Daniel Arap Moi.
• 
  Presidential Standard of Mwai Kibaki.
• 
  Presidential Standard of Uhuru Kenyatta, the current President.

• List of colonial governors of Kenya
• List of heads of state of Kenya
• Lists of incumbents
• Politics of Kenya
• Prime Minister of Kenya