The timelines of Uhuru Kenyatta
President Uhuru Kenyatta was born on October 26, 1961.
Born into a political family, Uhuru also found himself heading towards that direction.
In the 1997 General Election, Uhuru contested for the Gatundu South Constituency parliamentary seat, once held by his father, Jomo Kenyatta.
In 2001, he was nominated as a Member of Parliament, and he joined the Cabinet as Minister for Local Government.
In the 2002 nomination process, Daniel arap Moi, who was retiring, influenced Uhuru’s nomination as Kanu’s preferred presidential candidate, sparking an outcry from other interested contenders.
He finished second after President Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 elections, conceded defeat and took an active role as leader of opposition.
In January 2005, he beat Nicholas Biwott to become Kanu chairman.
Uhuru led his party Kanu in the referendum campaigns against the draft Constitution in 2005 after teaming up with the Liberal Democratic Party to form the Orange Democratic Movement.
In the build-up to the 2007 poll, he led Kanu in joining Party of National Unity (PNU) with President Kibaki, who was running for a second term against Raila Odinga.
In September 2007, Uhuru withdrew from the December 2007 election in favour of Kibaki, who was seeking re-election.
PNU won the controversial 2007 elections but the dispute over the poll resulted in the 2007–08 post-election crisis.
In 2012, the National Alliance (TNA) was launched and picked as the party’s presidential candidate for the elections that were held to be held in March, 2013.
In January 2013, TNA merged with URP to form the Jubilee Alliance Party, which subsequently formed the Government.
Uhuru won in the March 4, 2013 elections and was sworn in as the fourth President on April 9 at Kasarani stadium.
He sought re-election in 2017 but his win was contested in court and nullified. A repeat election was held on October 26 and he was sworn in a month later.
His second term officially ends today, having handed over to his Deputy, William Ruto, who was elected on August 9.
