List of heads of state of Kenya

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This is a list of the heads of state of Kenya, from the independence of Kenya in 1963 to the present day.

From 1963 to 1964 the head of state under the Constitution of 1963 was the Queen of Kenya, Elizabeth II, who was also the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. The monarch was represented in Kenya by a Governor-General. Kenya became a republic under a 1964 constitutional amendment and the Monarch, Governor-General and Prime Minister were replaced by an executive President.

Monarch (1963–1964)

The succession to the throne was the same as the succession to the British throne.

№	Monarch (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Reign		Royal House	Prime Minister
			Reign start	Reign end
1	Queen Elizabeth II (1926–)		12 December 1963	12 December 1964	Windsor	Kenyatta

Governors-General

The Governor-General was the representative of the Monarch in Kenya and exercised most of the powers of the Monarch. The Governor-General was appointed for an indefinite term, serving at the pleasure of the Monarch. Since Kenya was granted independence by the Kenya Independence Act 1963, rather than being first established as a semi-autonomous Dominion and later promoted to independence by the Statute of Westminster 1931, the Governor-General was to be always appointed solely on the advice of the Cabinet of Kenya without the involvement of the British government. As Kenya became a Republic before Malcolm MacDonald, the former colonial governor, was replaced, this has never happened. In the event of a vacancy the Chief Justice would have served as Officer Administering the Government.

Status

  Denotes Chief Justice acting as Officer Administering the Government

№	Governor-General (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Tenure		Monarch	Prime Minister
			Took office	Left office
1	Malcolm MacDonald (1901–1981)		12 December 1963	12 December 1964	Elizabeth II	Kenyatta

President of Kenya

Under the 1964 Constitutional Amendment establishing the Republic of Kenya, the President replaced the Monarch as head of state and the Prime Minister as chief executive. The President was initially elected by the House of Representatives of Kenya, and, after the merger of the House of Representatives and Senate into a unicameral National Assembly, by the National Assembly, for a five-year term. In the event of a vacancy the Vice-President would have served as Acting President for 90 days until new elections were held.

Following the enactment of the 1969 Constitution of Kenya, the system of election by the National Assembly was replaced by direct elections under a first-past-the-post system, yet true separation of powers was still not established; The President had to also be elected as an MP and he had to appoint his Ministers from among MPs, the President was still able to dissolve the National Assembly, and the Assembly was still able to declare no confidence in the ministers. Not only that, but until the first multiparty elections in 1992, only one candidate - that of the Kenya African National Union - was nominated and automatically declared winner of the elections without voting actually being held.

With the enactment of the 2010 Constitution, Kenya's current, the first-past-the-post system was replaced in presidential elections in favor of a two-round system, the post of Vice-President was renamed Deputy President and was made to automatically succeed to the Presidency in case of a vacancy for the remainder of the term in a full, not merely acting, capacity, and the requirement of the President, DP, and ministers to also be MPs was abolished, finally establishing separation of powers between the executive and legislature.

Status

№	President (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Tenure		Elected	Political affiliation (at time of appointment)		Prime Minister
			Took office	Left office
1	Jomo Kenyatta (1893–1978)		12 December 1964	22 August 1978 (died in office.)	1969 1974		Kenya African National Union	Position not established
2	Daniel arap Moi (1924–)		22 August 1978	8 November 1978	1978 1979 1983 1988 1992 1997		Kenya African National Union
			8 November 1978	30 December 2002
3	Mwai Kibaki (1931–)		30 December 2002	27 December 2007	2002		National Rainbow Coalition [1]
			27 December 2007	9 April 2013	2007		Party of National Unity	R. Odinga
4	Uhuru Kenyatta (1961–)		9 April 2013	Incumbent	2013 2017		The National Alliance Jubilee Party	position abolished

Standards

• 
  Governor-General's Standard
• 
  Presidential Standard of Jomo Kenyatta
• 
  Presidential Standard of Daniel Arap Moi
• 
  Presidential Standard of Mwai Kibaki
• 
  Presidential Standard of Uhuru Kenyatta

Living former heads of state

There are three living former Kenyan Heads of State:

Image	Name	Term/Reign	Office	Date of birth
	Elizabeth II	1963–1964	Queen of Kenya	(1926-04-21) 21 April 1926
	Daniel arap Moi	1978–2002	President of Kenya	(1924-09-02) 2 September 1924
	Mwai Kibaki	2002–2013	President of Kenya	(1931-11-15) 15 November 1931

External links

• World Statesmen – Kenya
• Rulers.org – Kenya