Uhuru Kenyatta
Encyclopedia
Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta is a Kenya
n politician, currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Finance and MP for Gatundu South Constituency
. He is the Chairman of Kenya African National Union
(KANU), the former ruling party, which is currently part of the Party of National Unity
(PNU). Nominated to Parliament in 2001, he became Minister for Local Government under President Daniel arap Moi
and, despite his political inexperience, was favored by President Moi as his successor; Kenyatta ran as KANU's candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki
by a large margin. He subsequently became Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. He backed Kibaki for re-election in the December 2007 presidential election
and was named Minister of Local Government by Kibaki in January 2008, before becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade in April 2008 as part of a coalition government. He is the son of Jomo Kenyatta
, Kenya's first president (1964–1978). His name, Uhuru
, is Swahili
for "freedom".
He attended St Mary's School in Nairobi. From there he went on to study political science at Amherst College
, USA.
In the general election held the same year, Uhuru contested the Gatundu South Constituency
parliamentary seat, once held by his father. It was assumed he would sail through. But that was not be: Uhuru lost to Moses Mwihia, a little-known Nairobi architect. After losing the election, Uhuru's friends say that he was extremely upset and that he vowed to quit politics altogether.
He hurriedly retreated to the family business empire that includes five-star tourist hotels, airlines and commercial farming. Little did Uhuru know that President Moi was still intent on propelling him onto the national political scene.
In 1999 Moi appointed Uhuru the new chairman of the Kenya Tourism Board, where he worked with Kenya's political power-broker Nicholas Biwott
, a very close confidante of the president. Apparently the young Uhuru was undergoing even more intensive training. Then came October 2001 and Uhuru was nominated to parliament and subsequently to the cabinet as Minister for Local Government. In March of this year Uhuru Kenyatta made it big on the national political scene when he was elected as one of the four national vice-chairmen of KANU.
President Moi paid a heavy price for ensuring Kenyatta was KANU's presidential candidate, with several senior party figures, their own ambitions thwarted, resigning to set up another party (the Liberal Democratic Party).
In the presidential election held on December 27, 2002, Kenyatta was soundly defeated by opposition leader Mwai Kibaki, taking only 31% of the vote against 62% for Kibaki; this marked the end of KANU's continuous 39 years of rule since independence. Many attributed Kenyatta's defeat to his association with the retiring President Moi, whose long rule was widely regarded as hopelessly corrupt and ineffectual. He was also seen to be lacking experience and his campaign team lacked the big names, most of whom had left KANU to join the opposition NARC. Despite losing the presidential election, Uhuru Kenyatta won an MP seat at the Gatundu
south constituency.
Since he joined Moi's inner circle, Uhuru Kenyatta has been fighting to prove that he is his own man and not Moi's stooge. In late January 2005, Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Nicholas Biwott for chairmanship of KANU, taking 2,980 votes among party delegates against Biwott's 622.
Uhuru led his party Kanu in Campaigns against the draft constitution in 2005
, having teamed up with the Liberal Democratic Party
to form the Orange Democratic Movement
. This saw Kenyans humiliate the government by rejecting the draft constitution by a noticeable margin.
In November 2006, Kenyatta was displaced as KANU leader by Biwott, although Kenyatta said he would not accept the decision. On December 28, 2006, the High Court of Kenya reinstated Uhuru Kenyatta as KANU chairman. However, further court proceedings followed. On June 28, 2007, the High Court confirmed Kenyatta as party leader, ruling that there was insufficient evidence for Biwott's argument that Kenyatta had joined another party.
On September 13, 2007, Kenyatta withdrew from the December 2007 presidential election and said that he would back Kibaki for re-election. He said that he did not want to run unless he could be sure of winning.
Following the election, which proved extremely controversial when Kibaki was declared the victor despite claims of fraud from challenger Raila Odinga
and his Orange Democratic Movement
, Kibaki appointed Kenyatta as Minister for Local Government on January 8, 2008. After Kibaki and Odinga reached a power-sharing agreement, Kenyatta was named Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade on April 13, 2008, as part of the Grand Coalition Cabinet. He is the Deputy Prime Minister representing the PNU, while another Deputy Prime Minister, Musalia Mudavadi
, represents the ODM. Kenyatta and the rest of the Cabinet were sworn in on April 17.
To his supporters Uhuru Kenyatta is a visionary leader. Being the son of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Uhuru's upbringing was steeped in politics.
According to Uhuru, "Growing up in the Kenyatta household taught us many things. My father taught us to treat everyone fairly. He taught us the essence of justice and fairness, he told us to learn from history but not to live in history."
, was launched under the leadership of Uhuru Kenyatta in his capacity as the Minister for Finance. ESP is an intensive, high impact programme, that aims to stimulate economic activity, create employment opportunities, encourage innovation in wealth-creation, spur entrepreneurship and support the building blocks that anchor a healthy, educated and innovative populace.
Kenya Economic Stimulus Program
outlines various objectives which include boosting the country's economic recovery, investing in long term solutions to the challenges of food security, expanding economic opportunities in rural areas for employment creation, promoting regional development for equity and social stability, improving infrastructure, enhancing the quality of education, availing affordable health-care for all Kenyans, investing in the conservation of the environment and expanding the access to and building the ICT capacity of the general populace of Kenya. In launching the Economic Stimulus Programme, the Ministry of Finance aimed to achieve regional development for equity and social stability.
IFMIS enables fully integrated planning for the budgeting process since it links planning policy objectives and budget allocation. It also seeks to support the e-Government shared services strategy by taking government financial services online. IFMIS will ensure that status reports are readily available which enhances capacity to track budgets thus enabling effective decision-making. The three pronged benefits of IFMIS include leading to improvements in planning and budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and accountability and budget execution. Other benefits include aiding in the reduction in maintenance cost of government fleets in terms of fuel and spares where huge losses have been previously incurred.
IFMIS can also accommodate last minute changes on the budget more easily thereby increasing accuracy of presentation. Also, the availability of accounting information in a consolidated format will allow the government's books and those of the Central Bank of Kenya to be reconciled. In pioneering the re-engineering of IFMIS, Uhuru Treasury provided the whole of government a way of dealing with corruption; an evil that has drained Kenya's national coffers of much needed resources. With the system in place, corruption will soon be dealt its final blow.
It also aims to help informal enterprises transition to formal sector enterprises through access to formal providers of financial services. The Fund is a revolving fund through which the Government enters into Credit Facility Agreements with select banks for on-lending to MSEs through branches, authorized banking agents and other channels, particularly mobile banking.
It was launched in March 2011, and so far it has 3 banks, the Cooperative Bank of Kenya
, Equity Bank
and K-Rep bank
, as partners. The launch of the fund seeks to address many of the defining challenges facing Kenya's national economy like unemployment, particularly among youths. Through the fund, the Ministry of Finance has undertaken the necessary steps to transform the SME
sector to be one of the key drivers for achieving broad based economic growth, employment creation and poverty reduction in Kenya.
Its objective is to ensure that the MSE sector becomes efficient, innovative and has a diversified and competitive product range. It will also provide policies that raise the earnings and productivity of the sector and transform the sector into a more formal setup. Through directing the development of the fund, Uhuru Kenyatta sought to ensure Financial Inclusion
of an estimated 8.3 million Kenyans working in the informal sector. These included 2 million in the Jua Kali sector and 5 million kiosk owners, mama mbogas and hawkers, with the rest in the informal transport sectors and the small-scale manufacturing sectors.
This Fund is specifically meant to compensate investors who suffer losses resulting from failure of a licensed stockbroker or dealer to meet his contractual obligations. In both the case of the collapse of Nyaga Stock Brokers and the collapse of Discount Securities Limited all genuine claims within the statutory maximum of Sh.50,000 per every investor were compensated.
Uhuru Kenyatta also directed that interest on contributions made to the Investor Compensation fund be exempt from tax.
The Government, through Treasury and Public Financial Management Reforms, strengthened audit capacity as a result of structured capacity building and the merger of all Government of Kenya (GoK) audit functions (including those of schools and local authorities) so as to enhance their independence and effectiveness. The Ministry of Finance also issued a Circular to bring donor-funded projects within the mandate of the Treasury's Internal Audit Department (IAD) with an aim of effectively monitoring the use of funds allocated to these projects.
On 13 June 2011, Uhuru also released a statement on the Final Foresic Audit Report for Ministry of Education and Ministry of Medical Services. The forensic audit itself was carried out between April and September, 2010 and involved the Ministry of Finance Internal Audit Department (IAD) with technical support from DFID. This forensic audit showed misappropriations in the named ministries.
'Time Magazine' reported that, "Thanks to a government cost-cutting program aimed at saving taxpayers some $27 million, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta announced this summer that government ministers, along with assistant ministers and permanent secretaries, must turn in their ubiquitous Mercedes-Benz for Volkswagen Passats, which not only cost about two-thirds the price of a new Benz in Kenya, but are, says the government, cheaper to run and maintain.
'All Twitter' reported, "In a move that might be the most social media friendly we've seen from a politician, Kenya's Finance Minister has asked his Twitter followers for their input on the country's budget – and promises to take their comments into consideration in the next draft....but this request from Kenya's Finance Minister goes above and beyond political representation to hear directly from the people.... This is a fantastic example of using social media to empower democracy.... Kenyatta has shown that any politician interested in actually hearing from the people can do so."
Uhuru Kenyatta's use of Social Media has endeared him to the Tech Savvy Community in Kenya who know that to reach him, he is just a tweet away. Aljazeera's The Stream
which taps into the extraordinary potential of social media to disseminate news covered Uhuru's use of Social Media in their show.
The Minister also notably called on other Members of Parliament during his 2011/2012 budget speech to use social media to communicate directly with Kenyans.
.
brought up discrepancy questions as to what exactly had been approved by the house. It appeared that parliament had voted on Kshs 31 billion as opposed to Kshs 22 billion that they thought they were voting on – the difference totalling Kshs 9.2 billion. The Deputy Prime Minister initially defended the budget that had been passed but later admitted that there were computer or typographical errors in budget bill. An investigation by the CID and a Parliamentary committee was ordered by the Speaker, to question him on the discrepancies. He was later cleared of any wrong doing by the Joint Finance and Budgetary Committee on the issue.
prosecutor Moreno Ocampo, for planning and funding violence in Naivasha and Nakuru. This was in relation to the violence that followed the bungled national elections in Kenya of December 2007
. He has been accused of organizing a Kikuyu politico-religious group, the Mungiki
, in the post-election violence. Uhuru maintains his innocence and wants his name cleared. On March 8, 2011, he was indicted after being summoned to appear before the ICC pre-trial chamber. He is to appear at the Hague on April 8, 2011 alongside 5 other suspects.
On September 29th, 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. He said Kenya's Prime Minister
Raila Odinga
should take political responsibility for the acts of violence and killings that followed the 2007 presidential elections in Kenya. He told the three judge
s that "by telling his supporters election results were being rigged, fanned tensions and then failed to use his influence to quell the violence that followed the announcement of the 2007 presidential results." (see headline of Thursday, September 29th, 2011 here) Website.
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
n politician, currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Finance and MP for Gatundu South Constituency
Gatundu South Constituency
Gatundu South Constituency is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of four constituencies in Thika District. The constituency has four wards, all of them are within Thika County council. The constituency was established for the 1997 elections...
. He is the Chairman of Kenya African National Union
Kenya African National Union
The Kenya African National Union, better known as KANU is a political party which ruled Kenya for nearly 40 years after its independence from British colonial rule in 1963, until its electoral loss at the end of 2002...
(KANU), the former ruling party, which is currently part of the Party of National Unity
Party of National Unity (Kenya)
Party of National Unity was founded as a political coalition of parties in Kenya. On September 16, 2007, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki announced the party formation and said that he would run as its presidential candidate in the December 2007 Kenyan elections...
(PNU). Nominated to Parliament in 2001, he became Minister for Local Government under President Daniel arap Moi
Daniel arap Moi
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi was the President of Kenya from 1978 until 2002.Daniel arap Moi is popularly known to Kenyans as 'Nyayo', a Swahili word for 'footsteps'...
and, despite his political inexperience, was favored by President Moi as his successor; Kenyatta ran as KANU's candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki
Mwai Kibaki
Mwai Kibaki is the current and third President of the republic of Kenya.Kibaki was previously Vice President of Kenya for ten years from 1978–1988 and also held cabinet ministerial positions, including a widely acclaimed stint as Minister for Finance , Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for...
by a large margin. He subsequently became Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. He backed Kibaki for re-election in the December 2007 presidential election
Kenyan presidential election, 2007
A presidential election was held as part of the Kenyan general election on December 27, 2007; parliamentary elections were held on the same date. Incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner and sworn in on December 30, despite opposition leader Raila Odinga's claims of victory...
and was named Minister of Local Government by Kibaki in January 2008, before becoming Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade in April 2008 as part of a coalition government. He is the son of Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyattapron.] served as the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation....
, Kenya's first president (1964–1978). His name, Uhuru
Uhuru
Uhuru may refer to:, a Lake Victoria ferry in East Africa*Uhuru , campaigns for and achievement of national independence in Africa especially in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania*Uhuru Kenyatta , Kenyan politician...
, is Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
for "freedom".
He attended St Mary's School in Nairobi. From there he went on to study political science at Amherst College
Amherst College
Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
, USA.
Political life
His initial entry into politics came through his election as the chairman of his hometown branch of the ruling party, KANU, in 1997. This came with the tacit approval of President Moi. At the time, many saw the election as a calculated move to prepare Uhuru for bigger things.In the general election held the same year, Uhuru contested the Gatundu South Constituency
Gatundu South Constituency
Gatundu South Constituency is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of four constituencies in Thika District. The constituency has four wards, all of them are within Thika County council. The constituency was established for the 1997 elections...
parliamentary seat, once held by his father. It was assumed he would sail through. But that was not be: Uhuru lost to Moses Mwihia, a little-known Nairobi architect. After losing the election, Uhuru's friends say that he was extremely upset and that he vowed to quit politics altogether.
He hurriedly retreated to the family business empire that includes five-star tourist hotels, airlines and commercial farming. Little did Uhuru know that President Moi was still intent on propelling him onto the national political scene.
In 1999 Moi appointed Uhuru the new chairman of the Kenya Tourism Board, where he worked with Kenya's political power-broker Nicholas Biwott
Nicholas Biwott
Kipyator Nicholas Kiprono arap Biwott is a Kenyan businessman, politician and philanthropist. Biwott has served as a civil servant, Member of Parliament and government minister, during which time he has held eight senior ministerial positions, worked alongside Kenya’s first three presidents – Jomo...
, a very close confidante of the president. Apparently the young Uhuru was undergoing even more intensive training. Then came October 2001 and Uhuru was nominated to parliament and subsequently to the cabinet as Minister for Local Government. In March of this year Uhuru Kenyatta made it big on the national political scene when he was elected as one of the four national vice-chairmen of KANU.
President Moi paid a heavy price for ensuring Kenyatta was KANU's presidential candidate, with several senior party figures, their own ambitions thwarted, resigning to set up another party (the Liberal Democratic Party).
In the presidential election held on December 27, 2002, Kenyatta was soundly defeated by opposition leader Mwai Kibaki, taking only 31% of the vote against 62% for Kibaki; this marked the end of KANU's continuous 39 years of rule since independence. Many attributed Kenyatta's defeat to his association with the retiring President Moi, whose long rule was widely regarded as hopelessly corrupt and ineffectual. He was also seen to be lacking experience and his campaign team lacked the big names, most of whom had left KANU to join the opposition NARC. Despite losing the presidential election, Uhuru Kenyatta won an MP seat at the Gatundu
Gatundu
Gatundu is a small town in the Central Province of Kenya. Gatundu is also center of the Gatundu division in Thika District. Gatundu is located 15 kilometres west of Thika and 15 kilometres north of Kiambu. Gatundu and its environs has two constituencies: Gatundu North and Gatundu South.Gatundu...
south constituency.
Since he joined Moi's inner circle, Uhuru Kenyatta has been fighting to prove that he is his own man and not Moi's stooge. In late January 2005, Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Nicholas Biwott for chairmanship of KANU, taking 2,980 votes among party delegates against Biwott's 622.
Uhuru led his party Kanu in Campaigns against the draft constitution in 2005
Kenyan constitutional referendum, 2005
The 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum was held on 21 November 2005. The proposed new constitution was voted down by a 58% majority of Kenya's voters...
, having teamed up with the Liberal Democratic Party
Liberal Democratic Party (Kenya)
The Liberal Democratic Party was a political party in Kenya.In the general election held on 27 December 2002, the party was a partner in the National Rainbow Coalition, which won 56.1 % of the popular vote and 125 out of 212 elected seats. The party itself took 59 of these seats...
to form the Orange Democratic Movement
Orange Democratic Movement
Orange Democratic Movement refers to a political party in Kenya, which is the successor of a former grassroots people's movement which was formed in the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum. The erstwhile single party which separated in August 2007 into two...
. This saw Kenyans humiliate the government by rejecting the draft constitution by a noticeable margin.
In November 2006, Kenyatta was displaced as KANU leader by Biwott, although Kenyatta said he would not accept the decision. On December 28, 2006, the High Court of Kenya reinstated Uhuru Kenyatta as KANU chairman. However, further court proceedings followed. On June 28, 2007, the High Court confirmed Kenyatta as party leader, ruling that there was insufficient evidence for Biwott's argument that Kenyatta had joined another party.
On September 13, 2007, Kenyatta withdrew from the December 2007 presidential election and said that he would back Kibaki for re-election. He said that he did not want to run unless he could be sure of winning.
Following the election, which proved extremely controversial when Kibaki was declared the victor despite claims of fraud from challenger Raila Odinga
Raila Odinga
Raila Amollo Odinga , also popularly known to Kenyans as Agwambo, is a Kenyan politician, currently serving as the Prime Minister of Kenya in a coalition government. He has served as a Member of Parliament for Langata since 1992, was Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002, and was Minister of Roads,...
and his Orange Democratic Movement
Orange Democratic Movement
Orange Democratic Movement refers to a political party in Kenya, which is the successor of a former grassroots people's movement which was formed in the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum. The erstwhile single party which separated in August 2007 into two...
, Kibaki appointed Kenyatta as Minister for Local Government on January 8, 2008. After Kibaki and Odinga reached a power-sharing agreement, Kenyatta was named Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade on April 13, 2008, as part of the Grand Coalition Cabinet. He is the Deputy Prime Minister representing the PNU, while another Deputy Prime Minister, Musalia Mudavadi
Musalia Mudavadi
Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi is a Kenyan politician, currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government.Mudavadi was born in Sabatia, Vihiga District...
, represents the ODM. Kenyatta and the rest of the Cabinet were sworn in on April 17.
To his supporters Uhuru Kenyatta is a visionary leader. Being the son of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Uhuru's upbringing was steeped in politics.
According to Uhuru, "Growing up in the Kenyatta household taught us many things. My father taught us to treat everyone fairly. He taught us the essence of justice and fairness, he told us to learn from history but not to live in history."
Minister of Finance
Uhuru Kenyatta was moved from the post of Minister for Trade and appointed Minister for Finance on January 23, 2009, while remaining Deputy Prime Minister. Since his appointment, he has spearheaded a number of reform measures that have seen a change in how Treasury and Government by extension transacts it business. These include:Economic Stimulus Programme
The Economic Stimulus Programme, commonly referred to as ESP Kenya Economic Stimulus ProgramKenya Economic Stimulus Program
The Kenya Economic Stimulus Program was initiated by the Government of Kenya to boost economic growth and lead the Kenyan economy out of a recession situation brought about by economic slowdown....
, was launched under the leadership of Uhuru Kenyatta in his capacity as the Minister for Finance. ESP is an intensive, high impact programme, that aims to stimulate economic activity, create employment opportunities, encourage innovation in wealth-creation, spur entrepreneurship and support the building blocks that anchor a healthy, educated and innovative populace.
Kenya Economic Stimulus Program
Kenya Economic Stimulus Program
The Kenya Economic Stimulus Program was initiated by the Government of Kenya to boost economic growth and lead the Kenyan economy out of a recession situation brought about by economic slowdown....
outlines various objectives which include boosting the country's economic recovery, investing in long term solutions to the challenges of food security, expanding economic opportunities in rural areas for employment creation, promoting regional development for equity and social stability, improving infrastructure, enhancing the quality of education, availing affordable health-care for all Kenyans, investing in the conservation of the environment and expanding the access to and building the ICT capacity of the general populace of Kenya. In launching the Economic Stimulus Programme, the Ministry of Finance aimed to achieve regional development for equity and social stability.
Integrated Financial Management Information System Re-engineered
Originally introduced in 2003 the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) was re-engineered by the Ministry of Finance to curb fraud and other malpractices that stem from inefficiency. In re-engineering IFMIS, the Ministry aimed to put Kenya's financial and economic information in a format that was accessible from an online platform which would radically improve public expenditure management under the Ministry of Finance.IFMIS enables fully integrated planning for the budgeting process since it links planning policy objectives and budget allocation. It also seeks to support the e-Government shared services strategy by taking government financial services online. IFMIS will ensure that status reports are readily available which enhances capacity to track budgets thus enabling effective decision-making. The three pronged benefits of IFMIS include leading to improvements in planning and budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and accountability and budget execution. Other benefits include aiding in the reduction in maintenance cost of government fleets in terms of fuel and spares where huge losses have been previously incurred.
IFMIS can also accommodate last minute changes on the budget more easily thereby increasing accuracy of presentation. Also, the availability of accounting information in a consolidated format will allow the government's books and those of the Central Bank of Kenya to be reconciled. In pioneering the re-engineering of IFMIS, Uhuru Treasury provided the whole of government a way of dealing with corruption; an evil that has drained Kenya's national coffers of much needed resources. With the system in place, corruption will soon be dealt its final blow.
Funds for the Inclusion of Informal Sector
Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Fund for the Inclusion of Informal Sector (FIIS) which is a fund that allows Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSE) to access credit facilities, expand their businesses and increase their savings.It also aims to help informal enterprises transition to formal sector enterprises through access to formal providers of financial services. The Fund is a revolving fund through which the Government enters into Credit Facility Agreements with select banks for on-lending to MSEs through branches, authorized banking agents and other channels, particularly mobile banking.
It was launched in March 2011, and so far it has 3 banks, the Cooperative Bank of Kenya
Cooperative Bank of Kenya
Cooperative Bank of Kenya is a commercial bank in Kenya. It is one of the forty-four licensed commercial banks in the country. The bank is one of the largest Kenyan banks by assets.-Overview:Cooperative Bank is a large financial services institution...
, Equity Bank
Equity Bank
Equity Bank is a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. It is one of the forty-four commercial banks licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator. , Equity Bank had the largest customer base in Kenya, with over 5.7 million accounts...
and K-Rep bank
K-Rep Bank
K-Rep Bank is a commercial bank in Kenya. It is one of the forty-four licensed commercial banks in the country.-Overview:The bank is a medium-sized microfinance commercial bank serving the urban and rural poor in Kenya, as well as financing their small-to-medium business enterprises...
, as partners. The launch of the fund seeks to address many of the defining challenges facing Kenya's national economy like unemployment, particularly among youths. Through the fund, the Ministry of Finance has undertaken the necessary steps to transform the SME
SME
SME may stand for:*Small and medium enterprises, a synonym for Small and Medium-sized Business *Subject matter expert, a work role description...
sector to be one of the key drivers for achieving broad based economic growth, employment creation and poverty reduction in Kenya.
Its objective is to ensure that the MSE sector becomes efficient, innovative and has a diversified and competitive product range. It will also provide policies that raise the earnings and productivity of the sector and transform the sector into a more formal setup. Through directing the development of the fund, Uhuru Kenyatta sought to ensure Financial Inclusion
Financial inclusion
Financial inclusion or inclusive financing is the delivery of financial services at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low income segments of society. Unrestrained access to public goods and services is the sine qua non of an open and efficient society...
of an estimated 8.3 million Kenyans working in the informal sector. These included 2 million in the Jua Kali sector and 5 million kiosk owners, mama mbogas and hawkers, with the rest in the informal transport sectors and the small-scale manufacturing sectors.
Investor Compensation Fund
The operations of the Investor Compensation Fund which aimed to compensate investors who had lost money to defunct stock brokers such as Nyaga Stock Brokers and Discount Securities Limited were launched under his watch. In launching the operations of the fund, also ensured that the interests of future investors were safeguarded. The fund had prior to the launch of its operations been established under the Capital Markets Act.This Fund is specifically meant to compensate investors who suffer losses resulting from failure of a licensed stockbroker or dealer to meet his contractual obligations. In both the case of the collapse of Nyaga Stock Brokers and the collapse of Discount Securities Limited all genuine claims within the statutory maximum of Sh.50,000 per every investor were compensated.
Uhuru Kenyatta also directed that interest on contributions made to the Investor Compensation fund be exempt from tax.
Treasury's Internal Audit Department
Through the Ministry of Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta initiated an internal audit on all donor-funded projects and found that funds given to both KESSP and WKCDD had been misappropriated. Together with the relevant ministries, Uhuru Kenyatta directed that the related staff members be suspended.The Government, through Treasury and Public Financial Management Reforms, strengthened audit capacity as a result of structured capacity building and the merger of all Government of Kenya (GoK) audit functions (including those of schools and local authorities) so as to enhance their independence and effectiveness. The Ministry of Finance also issued a Circular to bring donor-funded projects within the mandate of the Treasury's Internal Audit Department (IAD) with an aim of effectively monitoring the use of funds allocated to these projects.
On 13 June 2011, Uhuru also released a statement on the Final Foresic Audit Report for Ministry of Education and Ministry of Medical Services. The forensic audit itself was carried out between April and September, 2010 and involved the Ministry of Finance Internal Audit Department (IAD) with technical support from DFID. This forensic audit showed misappropriations in the named ministries.
Cutting Government Expenditure
In 2009, Uhuru Kenyatta directed that government Ministers, along with Assistant Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, should turn in their Mercedes-Benz government cars for Volkswagen Passats. In doing this he aimed not only to reduce government car costs to about two-thirds the price of a Mercedez-Benz but also to reduce the cost of running and maintaining these cars.'Time Magazine' reported that, "Thanks to a government cost-cutting program aimed at saving taxpayers some $27 million, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta announced this summer that government ministers, along with assistant ministers and permanent secretaries, must turn in their ubiquitous Mercedes-Benz for Volkswagen Passats, which not only cost about two-thirds the price of a new Benz in Kenya, but are, says the government, cheaper to run and maintain.
Use of Social Media in the Budget Making Process
The Business Daily, one of the Kenya's leading financial newspapers, reported Treasury invites Kenyans to 'tweet' their budget views. "Citing Article 10 of the Constitution of Kenya, which recognizes inclusiveness as part of the National Values and Principles of governance, the Minister said he was pursuing a more inclusive means of formulating the document.... Within three hours, more than 300 people had submitted responses to the Treasury using an on-line document that asked questions like which sectors should get funding and how the government could increase its tax intake."'All Twitter' reported, "In a move that might be the most social media friendly we've seen from a politician, Kenya's Finance Minister has asked his Twitter followers for their input on the country's budget – and promises to take their comments into consideration in the next draft....but this request from Kenya's Finance Minister goes above and beyond political representation to hear directly from the people.... This is a fantastic example of using social media to empower democracy.... Kenyatta has shown that any politician interested in actually hearing from the people can do so."
Uhuru Kenyatta's use of Social Media has endeared him to the Tech Savvy Community in Kenya who know that to reach him, he is just a tweet away. Aljazeera's The Stream
The Stream
The Stream is a daily television programme on Al Jazeera English. It is branded as a “Web community With a Global TV show”. On television and online The Stream taps into the extraordinary potential of social media to disseminate news...
which taps into the extraordinary potential of social media to disseminate news covered Uhuru's use of Social Media in their show.
The Minister also notably called on other Members of Parliament during his 2011/2012 budget speech to use social media to communicate directly with Kenyans.
Open Government
The Minister released the Budget Estimates to the Public through the Ministry website a week before the reading of the Budget and immediately the budget was read, his Budget Speech, A Citizen's Guide to the Budget, were made public through his various platform. These are some of the actions that have seen him declared as a proponent of Open GovernmentOpen Government
"Open Government" is the first episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister, first broadcast 25 February 1980. In this episode, the final ' Yes Minister ' is uttered by Sir Humphrey Appleby.- Plot :...
.
Controversies
Though noted as one of the few ministers without any scandals, on April 29, 2009, Uhuru faced a scare after he presented a supplemental budget that was approved by parliament. The supplemental budget was to cover the budget gap that had arisen due to slow economic growth. The government required an additional Kshs 38 billion, but compromised on a figure of Kshs 22 billion and non essential proposed expenditure was postponed as a result. After voting on the bill brought forward by Kenyatta, Gitobu ImanyaraGitobu Imanyara
Gitobu Imanyara is a Kenyan human rights lawyer, journalist, and politician.-Biography:After Imanyara spent more than two years in Maximum Security Prison on charges associated with his work as a human rights lawyer, he founded the Nairobi Law Monthly in 1987...
brought up discrepancy questions as to what exactly had been approved by the house. It appeared that parliament had voted on Kshs 31 billion as opposed to Kshs 22 billion that they thought they were voting on – the difference totalling Kshs 9.2 billion. The Deputy Prime Minister initially defended the budget that had been passed but later admitted that there were computer or typographical errors in budget bill. An investigation by the CID and a Parliamentary committee was ordered by the Speaker, to question him on the discrepancies. He was later cleared of any wrong doing by the Joint Finance and Budgetary Committee on the issue.
2007-2008 Post Election Violence
On December 15, 2010, Uhuru Kenyatta was named as a suspect of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal CourtInternational Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
prosecutor Moreno Ocampo, for planning and funding violence in Naivasha and Nakuru. This was in relation to the violence that followed the bungled national elections in Kenya of December 2007
Kenyan presidential election, 2007
A presidential election was held as part of the Kenyan general election on December 27, 2007; parliamentary elections were held on the same date. Incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner and sworn in on December 30, despite opposition leader Raila Odinga's claims of victory...
. He has been accused of organizing a Kikuyu politico-religious group, the Mungiki
Mungiki
Mungiki is a politico-religious group and a banned criminal organization in Kenya. The name means "A united people" or "multitude" in the Kikuyu language. The religion, which apparently originated in the late 1980s, is secretive and bears some similarity to mystery religions. Specifics of their...
, in the post-election violence. Uhuru maintains his innocence and wants his name cleared. On March 8, 2011, he was indicted after being summoned to appear before the ICC pre-trial chamber. He is to appear at the Hague on April 8, 2011 alongside 5 other suspects.
On September 29th, 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
Luis Moreno Ocampo
José Luis Moreno OcampoMoreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to distinguish Moreno as a surname, rather than a given name. is an Argentine lawyer who has been the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since June 16, 2003...
in the Hague, denying any links with the outlawed Mungiki
Mungiki
Mungiki is a politico-religious group and a banned criminal organization in Kenya. The name means "A united people" or "multitude" in the Kikuyu language. The religion, which apparently originated in the late 1980s, is secretive and bears some similarity to mystery religions. Specifics of their...
sect. He said Kenya's Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Raila Odinga
Raila Odinga
Raila Amollo Odinga , also popularly known to Kenyans as Agwambo, is a Kenyan politician, currently serving as the Prime Minister of Kenya in a coalition government. He has served as a Member of Parliament for Langata since 1992, was Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002, and was Minister of Roads,...
should take political responsibility for the acts of violence and killings that followed the 2007 presidential elections in Kenya. He told the three judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s that "by telling his supporters election results were being rigged, fanned tensions and then failed to use his influence to quell the violence that followed the announcement of the 2007 presidential results." (see headline of Thursday, September 29th, 2011 here) Website.
Honoring of the ICC summons
Though Uhuru had previously dismissed ICC summons, he changed his decision along the way and together in the company his two other co-accused suspects; Head of Civil Servant, Ambassador Francis Muthaura and former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali. The trio honored the ICC Summons that sought to determine whether their cases met the set standards for international trials.External links
- http://www.bunge.go.ke/parliament/MPs/tenth_parl/uhuru_k.php
- Uhuru Kenyatta Profile, Biography & Timeline