Changes

In 2009 a devastating drought swept across Kenya, killing livestock, crops and children. Fights over water erupted in city slums, while in the rural areas bitter ethnic tensions escalated as communities fought over the last remaining pieces of fertile grazing land.  

In 2009 a devastating drought swept across Kenya, killing livestock, crops and children. Fights over water erupted in city slums, while in the rural areas bitter ethnic tensions escalated as communities fought over the last remaining pieces of fertile grazing land.  

The basics of Kenya’s economy, agriculture and tourism, are especially imperiled.<ref>Jeffrey Gettleman, "Lush Land Dries Up, Withering Kenya’s Hopes," [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/world/africa/08kenya.html?th&emc=th ''New York Times'' Sept. 7, 2009]</ref>  

The basics of Kenya's economy, agriculture and tourism, are especially imperiled.<ref>Jeffrey Gettleman, "Lush Land Dries Up, Withering Kenya’s Hopes," [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/world/africa/08kenya.html?th&emc=th ''New York Times'' Sept. 7, 2009]</ref>  

==Geography==

==Geography==

In the December 2007 elections, Odinga, the candidate of the ODM, attacked the failures of the Kibaki regime. The ODM charged the Kikuyu have grabbed everything and all the other tribes have lost; that Kibaki had betrayed his promises for change; that crime and violence were out of control, and that economic growth was not bringing any benefits to the ordinary citizen. In the December 2007 elections the ODM won a landslide for Parliament, but the counting for president was rigged by the government which proclaimed Kibaki had been reelected.

In the December 2007 elections, Odinga, the candidate of the ODM, attacked the failures of the Kibaki regime. The ODM charged the Kikuyu have grabbed everything and all the other tribes have lost; that Kibaki had betrayed his promises for change; that crime and violence were out of control, and that economic growth was not bringing any benefits to the ordinary citizen. In the December 2007 elections the ODM won a landslide for Parliament, but the counting for president was rigged by the government which proclaimed Kibaki had been reelected.

"Majimboism" was a philosophy that emerged in the 1950s, meaning federalism or regionalism in Kiswahili, and it was intended to protect local rights, especially regarding land ownership. Today "majimboism" is code for certain areas of the country to be reserved for specific ethnic groups, fueling the kind of ethnic cleansing that has swept the country since the election. Majimboism has always had a strong following in the Rift Valley, the epicenter of the recent violence, where many locals have long believed that their land was stolen by outsiders. The December 2007 was in part a referendum on majimboism. It pitted today’s majimboists, represented by Odinga, who campaigned for regionalism, against Kibaki, who stood for the status quo of a highly centralized government that has delivered considerable economic growth but has repeatedly displayed the problems of too much power concentrated in too few hands — corruption, aloofness, favoritism and its flip side, marginalization. In the town of Londiani in the Rift Valley, Kikuyu traders settled decades ago. In February, 2008, hundreds of Kalenjin raiders poured down from the nearby scruffy hills and burned a Kikuyu school. Kikuyus quickly took revenge, organizing into gangs armed with iron bars and table legs and hunting down Luos and Kalenjins in Kikuyu-dominated areas like Nakuru. "We are achieving our own perverse version of majimboism," wrote one of Kenya’s leading columnists, Macharia Gaitho.<ref>Jeffrey Gettleman, "Signs in Kenya of a Land Redrawn by Ethnicity," [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/world/africa/15kenya.html?ref=africa ''New York Times'' Feb. 15, 2008]</ref>

"Majimboism" was a philosophy that emerged in the 1950s, meaning federalism or regionalism in Kiswahili, and it was intended to protect local rights, especially regarding land ownership. Today "majimboism" is code for certain areas of the country to be reserved for specific ethnic groups, fueling the kind of ethnic cleansing that has swept the country since the election. Majimboism has always had a strong following in the Rift Valley, the epicenter of the recent violence, where many locals have long believed that their land was stolen by outsiders. The December 2007 was in part a referendum on majimboism. It pitted today's majimboists, represented by Odinga, who campaigned for regionalism, against Kibaki, who stood for the status quo of a highly centralized government that has delivered considerable economic growth but has repeatedly displayed the problems of too much power concentrated in too few hands — corruption, aloofness, favoritism and its flip side, marginalization. In the town of Londiani in the Rift Valley, Kikuyu traders settled decades ago. In February, 2008, hundreds of Kalenjin raiders poured down from the nearby scruffy hills and burned a Kikuyu school. Kikuyus quickly took revenge, organizing into gangs armed with iron bars and table legs and hunting down Luos and Kalenjins in Kikuyu-dominated areas like Nakuru. "We are achieving our own perverse version of majimboism," wrote one of Kenya's leading columnists, Macharia Gaitho.<ref>Jeffrey Gettleman, "Signs in Kenya of a Land Redrawn by Ethnicity," [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/world/africa/15kenya.html?ref=africa ''New York Times'' Feb. 15, 2008]</ref>

2013 [[Uhuru Kenyatta]] was elected as president.

2013 [[Uhuru Kenyatta]] was elected as president.