List of heads of state of Kenya

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 queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. The monarch was represented in Kenya by a governor-general. Kenya became a republic within the Commonwealth 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.

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Reign			Royal House	Prime minister(s)
			Reign start	Reign end	Duration
1	File:Queen Elizabeth II official portrait for 1959 tour (retouched) (cropped) (3-to-4 aspect ratio).jpg	Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)	12 December 1963	12 December 1964	Template:Age in years year	Windsor	Kenyatta

Governor-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 as defined 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 the officer administering the government.

Status

  Denotes Chief Justice acting as Officer Administering the Government

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Term of office			Monarch	Prime minister
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1	File:Malcolmmacdonald.jpg	Malcolm MacDonald (1901–1981)	12 December 1963	12 December 1964	Template:Age in years year	Elizabeth II	Kenyatta

Republic (1964–current)

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 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. Additionally, 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.

Political parties

  Kenya African National Union (KANU)

  National Rainbow Coalition (NARC)

  Party of National Unity (PNU)

  The National Alliance (TNA)

  Jubilee Party (Jubilee)

  United Democratic Alliance (UDA)

Status

  Denotes acting president

Symbols

^† Died in office

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Elected	Term of office			Political party	Vice president (1964–2013) Deputy president (since 2013)
				Took office	Left office	Time in office
rowspan="5" style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 1	File:Jomo Kenyatta.jpg	Jomo Kenyatta (1897–1978)	—	12 December 1964	22 August 1978[†]	Template:Ayd	KANU	style="background:Template:Party color" |	Jaramogi Oginga Odinga
style="background:Template:Party color" |								Joseph Murumbi
rowspan="4" style="background:Template:Party color" |								Daniel arap Moi
1969
1974
rowspan="11" style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 2	File:Daniel arap Moi 1979b.jpg	Daniel arap Moi (1924–2020)	—	22 August 1978	8 November 1978	Template:Ayd	KANU
1978			8 November 1978	30 December 2002	rowspan="3" style="background:Template:Party color" |			Mwai Kibaki
1979
1983
1988					rowspan="1" style="background:Template:Party color" |			Josephat Karanja
					rowspan="3" style="background:Template:Party color" |			George Saitoti
1992
1997
					Vacant
					rowspan="1" style="background:Template:Party color" |	George Saitoti
					rowspan="2" style="background:Template:Party color" |	Musalia Mudavadi
rowspan="3" style="background:Template:Party color; color:white;" | 3	File:Mwai Kibaki (cropped).jpg	Mwai Kibaki (1931–2022)	2002	30 December 2002	9 April 2013		Template:Ayd	NARC (until 2007)
rowspan="1" style="background:Template:Party color" |						Michael Kijana Wamalwa
rowspan="1" style="background:Template:Party color" |						Moody Awori
(3)			2007					PNU
						rowspan="1" style="background:Template:Party color" |			Kalonzo Musyoka
4	File:2017 22 Inauguration Ceremony -21 (32236367533) (cropped).jpg	Uhuru Kenyatta (born 1961)	2013	9 April 2013	13 September 2022	Template:Ayd	TNA (until Sept. 2016)	rowspan="2" style="background:Template:Party color" |	William Ruto
			2017				Jubilee
rowspan="2" style="background:Template:Party color; color:black;" | 5	File:President Ruto Potrait 2022 (cropped).jpg	William Ruto (born 1966)	2022	13 September 2022	Incumbent	Template:Ayd	UDA	rowspan="2" style="background:Template:Party color" |	Rigathi Gachagua
Kithure Kindiki

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:21 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:120 left:20 AlignBars = late

Define $today = 03/05/2026

Colors =

 id:kanu value:rgb(0.96,0.02,0.1) legend:Kenya_African_National_Union
 id:narc value:rgb(0.2,0.52,0.79) legend:National_Rainbow_Coalition
 id:pnu value:rgb(0.48,0.44,0.73) legend:Party_of_National_Unity 
 id:tna value:rgb(0.93,0.11,0.15) legend:The_National_Alliance
 id:jubilee value:rgb(0.75,0.02,0) legend:Jubilee_Party
 id:uda value:rgb(1,0.84,0) legend:United_Democratic_Alliance
 id:gray1  value:gray(0.85)
 id:gray2  value:gray(0.95)

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1964 till:$today TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = gridcolor:gray1 unit:year increment:5 start:1965 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:gray2 unit:year increment:1 start:1964

Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:35 columnwidth:170

TextData =

 pos:(20,38) textcolor:black fontsize:M
 text:"Political party:"

BarData =

bar:JKenyatta
bar:arapMoi
bar:Kibaki
bar:UKenyatta
bar:Ruto

PlotData =

 width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:JKenyatta
 from: 12/12/1964 till: 22/08/1978 color:kanu    text:"Jomo Kenyatta"
bar:arapMoi
 from: 22/08/1978 till: 30/12/2002 color:kanu    text:"Daniel arap Moi"
bar:Kibaki
 from: 30/12/2002 till: 16/09/2007 color:narc
 from: 16/09/2007 till: 09/04/2013 color:pnu     text:"Mwai Kibaki"
bar:UKenyatta
 from: 09/04/2013 till: 07/09/2016 color:tna
 from: 07/09/2016 till: 13/09/2022 color:jubilee text:"Uhuru Kenyatta"
bar:Ruto
 from: 13/09/2022 till: $today     color:uda     text:"William Ruto"

</timeline>

Standards

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

External links

• Rulers.org – Kenya