Statistical Information

Population: 39 million
Capital City: Nairobi (pop. 2.1 million)
Official Languages: English and Kiswahili
National Holiday: Independence Day – December 12 (1963)
Religion: Protestant (45%), Roman Catholic (33%), Muslim (10%), Other (12%)
Government Personnel: President – Mwai Kibaki, Vice-President – Stephene Musyoka, Prime Minister – Raila Odinga

Orphans: 2.3 million (source - UNICEF and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
Life Expectancy at Birth: males – 57, females – 58 (in Canada: males – 79, females – 84)
Infant Mortality Rate: 55 deaths/1000 births (in Canada: 5/1000)
People living with HIV/AIDS: 1.2 million (2003 Est.)
50% of the population is younger then 18.7 Years old (50% of Canadians are younger then 40 years old)

Political History
Founding President and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence in 1963 until his death in 1978, when President Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional succession.

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. MOI acceded to internal and external pressure for political liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured opposition failed to dislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992 and 1997, which were marred by violence and fraud, but were viewed as having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people. President MOI stepped down in December 2002 following fair and peaceful elections. Mwai KIBAKI, running as the candidate of the multiethnic, united opposition group, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), defeated KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an anticorruption platform.

KIBAKI's NARC coalition splintered in 2005 over the constitutional review process. Government defectors joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition, the Orange Democratic Movement, which defeated the government's draft constitution in a popular referendum in November 2005.

KIBAKI's reelection in December 2007 brought charges of vote rigging from ODM candidate Raila ODINGA and unleashed two months of violence in which as many as 1,500 people died.

UN-sponsored talks in late February 2008 produced a power sharing accord bringing ODINGA into the government in the restored position of Prime Minister.

About Kisumu, Kenya 

Kisumu is a port city, on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, in the Nyanza province. Population is 355,024, according to the last “official” census which was conducted in 1999. Current estimates peg the city closer to 1 million people. It is the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya. Kisumu is a predominately Christian town with a strong Evangelical base as well as a significant Muslim minority. The poverty rate in Nyanza province, according to government statistics, currently lies at 63% and is the highest in the country followed by Nairobi at 50%. The centre of the city is relatively small and surrounded with numerous and large informal settlements including Nyalenda, Obunga and Kondele. Milimani lies on the outskirts of the city and is a relatively wealthy area. In the East Kajulu area, outside of Kisumu, there are more than 6000 registered orphans, and it is estimated that over 1⁄2 of these children have HIV/AIDS.

 

 

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