Kenya

National name: Jamhuri ya Kenya

Government
Republic.

Geography
Kenya lies across the equator in east-central Africa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. In the north, the land is arid; the southwest corner is in the fertile Lake Victoria Basin; and a length of the eastern depression of the Great Rift Valley separates western highlands from those that rise from the lowland coastal strip.
 
Historical Background
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. 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, defeated KANU candidate Uhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an anticorruption platform.

Name

Republic of Kenya

Capital

Nairobi

Government

Semi-presidential Republic -  President Mwai Kibaki - Prime Minister Raila Odinga

Area

Total 580,367 km2 (47th) 224,080 sq mi     

Population

July 2010 estimate 40,046,566[2] (33rd) -  August 24–25, 2009 census 38,610,097[3]

GDP (PPP)

2010 estimate- Total $65.132 billion[4] (80th)

GDP (nominal) 

2010 estimate- Total $32.417 billion[4] (85th)

Currency

Kenyan shilling (KES)

Time zone

EAT (UTC+3) -  Summer (DST) not observed (UTC+3)