Uhuru Kenyatta – President of Kenya: Profile, Biography and Timeline.
President Uhuru Kenyatta - Fourth President of Kenya
October 26, 1961: Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta is born. He is named Uhuru, in anticipation for Kenya’s upcoming independence
Uhuru Kenyatta attended St Mary’s School in Nairobi. He played as a Winger for St. Mary’s Nairobi Rugby Team
Uhuru Kenyatta – President of Kenya
1978: Uhuru loses his father, and Kenya’s firrst president ; Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who died aged 89.
1979 – 1980 Uhuru Kenyatta worked as a teller at the Kenya Commercial Bank, Kipande House Branch.
Uhuru Kenyatta joined Amherst College USA. to study Political Science and Economics.
1989: Uhuru Kenyatta starts his first company, Wiham Kenya Limited, where he used to personally pick up and transport horticulture for export on his pick up truck.
1991: Uhuru Kenyatta marries his sweetheart and best friend Margaret.
1992: Uhuru Kenyatta campaigns for Kenneth Matiba
1994: Uhuru Kenyatta sold Wiham Kenya Limited.
1997: Uhuru Kenyatta runs for the Parliamentary seat for Gatundu South, But looses to Moses Muhia.
1999: Uhuru Kenyatta was appointed the new chairman of the Kenya Tourism Board by President Moi
2001: Uhuru Kenyatta is Nominated to Parliament by President Moi
2001 Uhuru Kenyatta is appointed minister for Local Government under President Daniel arap Moi
2002: Uhuru Kenyatta contested for the presidency on a KANU ticket, but lost to NARC’s Mwai Kibaki and opted to take his seat as official Opposition Leader.
January 2005: Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Nicholas Biwott for chairmanship of KANU, taking 2,980 votes among party delegates against Biwott’s 622.
2005: Uhuru Kenyatta led his party KANU in campaigns against the draft constitution in the 2005 constitutional referendum.
September 13, 2007: Uhuru 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.
December 2007: Uhuru Kenyatta backed Kibaki for re-election in the presidential election.
January 2008: Uhuru Kenyatta was named Minister of Local Government by president Mwai Kibaki.
13 April 2008: Uhuru Kenyatta was named Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade as part of the Grand Coalition Cabinet.
December 15, 2010: Uhuru Kenyatta was named as a suspect of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court prosecutor Moreno Ocampo, for planning and funding violence in Naivasha and Nakuru
9 March 2013: Uhuru Kenyatta wins the presidential election and becomes the forth president of Kenya
“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.”
Uhuru Kenyatta with Family
President Uhuru Kenyatta Wife, Children and Family
Uhuru Kenyatta is married to Margaret Wanjiru and has three children, Jomo, Ngina and Jaba. Uhuru’s wife Margaret is not very well known because she prefers to keep a low profile.
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s school days at St Mary’s School, Nairobi.
(Adopted from the Standard newspaper)
President Uhuru Kenyatta’s school days (Adopted from the Standard nwespaper)
President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta joined Standard Three in St Mary’s School, Nairobi, at the fairly young age of seven years.
Under the education system at the time, one had to be between fi ve and six years to join Standard One, but like other boys slated to join St Mary’s School, Uhuru completed his foundational classes of kindergarten and Standards One and Two, at Loreto Convent, Valley Road.
I can only posit, that since the boys would thereafter, have an unbroken 11-year stint at ‘Saints’ (the school’s nickname), without company of girls, this was perhaps the Catholic orders way of orienting the boys with their sisters before separating them all the way from Standard Three to Form 6! As such ‘Saints’ did not itself have Standard One or Two until, sometimes in the mid-1970s.
I will restrict myself to his time in secondary and high school, as that is when a person’s character is formed.
Anybody who knows anything about early Catholic education in Kenya would concur when I state that its hallmark was an unbending fidelity to discipline, character formation and academic competence.
The Kenyattas (Uhuru was later joined in Saints by his siblings Muhoho and Nyokabi) enjoyed no special privileges by virtue of being the President’s children.
Everybody arrived in school well before the commencement time of 7:45am. We all attended morning assembly as well as services at St Austin’s Chapel in the school compound, morning assembly and queued up to the same lunch in the dining hall.
At the time, the teachers at Saints were mainly white and Catholic Fathers and Brothers. Coupled with the fact that tribalism was virtually unheard of back then, everything was premised on meritocracy.
A headmaster oversaw the primary section at Saints, with the principal in charge of the entire school. A priest, Father Ellis, nicknamed ‘Dragash’, was Uhuru’s first principal, but by the time Kenya’s fourth President graduated with his London GCE A-Levels in 1979, the principal was a rugby-playing priest known as Father Malone.
The Dean of students was Father Cox. Uhuru and his siblings were always brought to school in various classic Mercedes Benz cars, all with civilian plates chauffeured by either of their trusted drivers, Gitogo and Ng’ang’a, large and genial men, whom I believe were also police officers.
There were certainly not accompanied to school by chase cars, nor were doors opened for them or their bags carried to class!
Once they were dropped off at whichever of the school’s parking lots they elected to use, they, in a manner of speaking ceased being President Jomo Kenyatta’s children and became part of the Saints fraternity.
Being on a plus 100-acre site, Saints was a fairly secure facility with a small population and efficient public services back then. The Kenyattas would not have required extra security and if they had requested it, the Catholic order in charge would probably have laughed it off.
Known for his frugal lifestyle, I suspect that had some thoughtless chap succeeded in say kidnapping Uhuru from school, old Jomo would have been unlikely to give in to their ransom demands and the kidnappers would probably have had to return him empty-handed.
I do not recall Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s First President, ever coming to Saints to check on his children’s academic progress, but Mama Ngina Kenyatta was a regular visitor to the principal’s office during the school’s prize giving days.
Saints was truly international in its composition and during its best years resembled a mini-United Nations with students from all continents.
Two things bound us at Saints. One was our ground-floor tuck shop or school canteen, which was a kind of melting pot of all races and nationalities. Stuffed with quality confectionery, the hottest item of the day was always hotdogs and Coca-Cola. Going like for a shilling each at the time. Uhuru was a common feature at the tuck shop during break and after formal lunch in the dining hall.
I recall Frank “fat Frankie” Gachago, Muhoho’s classmate, once calling out to Uhuru saying, to him; “Hey give me bite.” Uhuru obliged, while Frankie waited patiently in the long queue to buy his own.
This kind of banter built camaraderie among the Saints students and was certainly not an indication of lack. However, even when sharing, you never let go of your whole hotdog, but held it in such a manner that the person you were sharing it with only bit off the size you allowed him to!
I include this part, to show, that in school, Uhuru was as down to earth and easy going as they come.
However, such banter was limited to your class or year mate, or senior to junior students, never downwards as that would be considered a form of indiscipline and intimidation.
Uhuru Kenyatta loved sport
Uhuru was a nimble-footed rugby player, blind side winger, initially on the Senior Colts team and later at least the schools 2nd XV. He put in the hard training sessions required to make the cut, and his speed was always his escape route from both danger and towards the try line.
With his long strides, Uhuru had a decent rugby brain and he certainly enjoyed the rough and tumble of the school’s beloved sport.
Uhuru and his good friend Jimmy Kibaki both espied their future brides while at St. Marys School. Both First Lady Margaret Kenyatta née Gaul and Sheryl Kibaki née Vienna were students at Msongari. Margaret is of Kenyan and German extraction, while Sheryl is of Goan extraction.
Margaret is the youngest of four siblings, with their first-born Maina, tight as a fist with Uhuru!
Of the three Kenyattas that I knew at Saints, Uhuru was the most easy-going of the lot. Those who were and have remained close to him (I wasn’t) state that he is very loyal to old friends, hence, perhaps, his presence in Machakos for the burial of our former Head Boy Martin Malinda, and that of John Ngumba’s wife last week.
Ian Duncan, Jimmy, Frank and Sam Gachago, together with late Steve Kanyotu and Keirion Thorpe (also deceased), were some of the alumni, whom I got the impression, Uhuru enjoyed their company and fun times together, back in the day.
Saints students were allowed to drive and park their personal cars in School, once they reached upper 6th. Uhuru was no exception, and his choice of car was a classic cream Mercedes 190, with the plates KWT 185.
Like all educational institutions, there were traditions by which you could identify a Saint, with finesse and good command of the English language being just two of them. Any time we watched Uhuru on TV during the course of the presidential campaigns we would say to ourselves: “Listen to that Saints English!”
50 little known facts about President Uhuru Kenyatta
- He was conceived in Samburu
- He was born in Nairobi
- He is left handed
- He worked for KCB at Kipande House
- He earned 600/- while working for KCB
- History was his favorite subject in High School
- Played on the wing for St Mary’s School rugby team
- He was the First Politician to concede defeat at the Presidential Level
- His favorite film is Shaka Zulu
- His favorite musicians are Bob Marley, Tracy Chapman and UB40
- He has 3 kids
- He is a practicing Catholic
- He wears specs while reading
- His favorite food is Nyama Choma
- His favorite authors are Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn
- His favorite TV SHOW’s are 24 and Spooks
- The first car he owned was an Alfa Romeo
- He used to personally collect horticulture for export in his pick-up
- He joined politics in 1989
- He campaigned for Matiba in 1992
- He first met his wife in 1978 in Mombasa
- His father passed away while he was in form four
- He has slept in St House, but it was never his home
- His father had 4 boys and 4 girls
- He worked at Burger King while in the US
- He fronted an Afro while in Uni
- His favorite beer is Tusker
- His favorite gadget is an Iphone
- If he could hang out with a band it would be UB40
- He favorite computer game is Tiger Woods Golf PGA Tour
- His favorite cartoon is The Flintstones
- His favorite comic is Archie
- His favorite color is Blue
- His favorite board game is backgammon
- The Kenya Economic Stimulus program was first launched under his leadership at the Treasury.
- The project that he has initiated that he would most like to see succeed is IFMIS
- He is the first finance Minister to create a loan facility for the JuaKali sector.
- If he could be any animal he would be a cheetah
- His pets are both a Great Dane and Chihuahau
- He has retained his first driver and secretary to date
- His favorite Ministry that he has worked in is Trade
- He lost the first parliamentary election.
- He intends to retire at 60.
- He proposed to his wife in Karen, Nairobi
- He was suspended from school?
- His best friend is his wife Margaret
- Favourite bible verses are Psalms 23, and 137
- The world leader he would most like to meet is Fidel Castro
- The most influential person he has met to date is Nelson Mandela
- His greatest wish is to serve the people of Kenya
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