Uhuru Kenyatta

He is the son of Kenya's first president
Kenyatta is the son of Kenya's first post-independence president Jomo Kenyatta and his fourth wife Mama Ngina. Jomo Kenyatta was a member of Mau Mau, Kenya's anti-colonial movement and was arrested and served eight years in prison for his involvement. Kenyatta was the president of Kenya from 1963 to his death in 1978. His reign as president saw him making moves to centralise power, advance the interests of the Kikuyu ethnic group and suppress opposition.

He is among the richest men in Africa
In 2011 Uhuru Kenyatta was number 26 on the Forbes Africa's 40 Wealthiest People list. He is widely considered to be the wealthiest man in Kenya and his net worth has been estimated to be in the region of US$500 million. The family's land wealth was gained in the 60s and 70s when the World Bank sold land owned by British colonialists to Kenyans at dramatically reduced prices. Much of his wealth is in the more than 500 000 acres he owns. The president elect also owns Kenya's largest dairy (Brookside Dairies) along with his family, luxury hotels and a stake in television station K24.

His name means 'freedom' in Swahili
His name Uhuru is not only the Swahili word for freedom, it is also the name of the highest peak on Mount Kilimanjaro (the highest mountain in Africa). The direct translation of Uhuru means freedom, but in the context of the decolonisation of Africa (around the period when he was born) it also means independence.

He was mentioned in the Wikileaks cables
Uhuru Kenyatta, then deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, was mentioned in the 2011 diplomatic cables that were leaked by the wikileaks website. The leaks mention that Kenyatta was preparing for a presidential bid in the elections, which were scheduled for 2012. The leaked cable listed his strengths and weaknesses, they said: "Kenyatta is bright and charming, even charismatic. He is enormously wealthy, and therefore has not had to engage in corruption. Although his wealth is the inheritance from his father's corruption, the Kenyatta family still holds a special status. Kenyatta's liabilities are at least as important as his strengths. He drinks too much and is not a hard worker (though he surprised everyone by the acuity of the budget, which reportedly resulted from some tough work over long hours). Perhaps most importantly, Kenyatta has been closely linked to the Mungiki (which emerged in the aftermath of the Mau Mau and began as a movement in defense of Kikuyu traditional values, but which has long since morphed into a well-organized mafia-style criminal organization). The reason that Kenyatta is assumed to be on the Waki Commission list of suspected perpetrators of post-election violence is his fund-raising to support Mungiki violent actions against Kalenjins during the post-election violence."

He was mentored by Daniel Arap Moi
Kenyatta initially steered clear of politics on his return from studying political Science at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He was brought into the political fold by then-President Daniel arap Moi when he was appointed head of the Kenya Tourism Board in 1999. Moi had served as Vice-President under Jomo Kenyatta, before becoming president when Kenyatta died. In 2002 Moi named Uhuru Kenyatta as his replacement, a move many saw as Moi's attempt to hold on to power through a proxy. Kenyatta was roundly defeated by Mwai Kibaki in that election, and the move was seen as the death knell to any post-presidency ambitions Moi had as he had alienated many of the most powerful members of his own party when he named the young Kenyatta as his successor.

He is facing charges at the International Criminal Court (over 2007 post-election violence)
Kenyatta was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague on charges of planning and funding violence against people of the Luo and Kalenjin ethnic groups in the Nakuru and Naivasha areas. Kenyatta is alleged to have hired Mungiki terrorists to retaliate for attacks on Kikuyu people in the violence that followed the botched general election in 2007. While the charges against him were expected to hurt his campaign for the presidency, many now feels they actually helped as Kenyans feel Africa has been unjustly targeted by the ICC. The charges at the ICC also mean that Kenyatta might have to deal with strained diplomatic relations with the West. He was willing to attack the West in his election campaigning and it worked in his favour, however, despite Kenya’s regional importance many leaders appear to have tacitly indicated their disapproval of Kenyatta.

His tenure as Finance Minister
Kenyatta's term as finance minister is considered one of his successes. In that role he has been at the head of a roll out of reforms and spending on infrastructure. His Economic Stimulus Plan was hailed by the media within Kenya and abroad and his backing of innovative businesses and technologies has been a source of admiration for many. One of these was his Fund for the Inclusion of the Informal Sector. Other initiatives, such as his bid to have Ministers give up their luxury automobiles, have been failures.