Kenya Kwanza (

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

: "Kenya First") is a Kenyan political alliance currently headed by William Ruto. The political coalition currently holds a majority in both the National Assembly and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of Kenya. It was formed in the period leading up to the

2022 Kenyan general election General elections are scheduled to be held in Kenya on 9 August 2022. Voters will elect the President, members of the National Assembly and Senate, county governors and members of the 47 county assemblies. Background The Constitution of Kenya ...

, originally consisting of three parties: the

United Democratic Alliance United Democratic Alliance may refer to: *United Democratic Alliance (Liberia) *United Democratic Alliance (Zambia) *United Democratic Alliance (Kenya) The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) is the current ruling political party in Kenya. Their sl ...

(UDA), Amani National Congress and FORD–Kenya. By 8 April 2022, several more political parties had joined the alliance, bringing the total number of constituent parties to 12. On 18 August 2022, a number of politicians from the

United Democratic Movement The United Democratic Movement (UDM) is a centre-left, social-democratic, South African political party, formed by a prominent former National Party leader, Roelf Meyer (who has since resigned from the UDM), a former African National Congress ...

announced they would be joining the alliance. The coalition instruments affirm that the constituent parties themselves remain independent with their own leadership structures. In practice, however, the various party organs and committees harmonize their decisions with each other. In addition to supporting a common presidential and vice presidential candidate, the constituent parties do, upon consensus, field a common candidate in various other elective positions.

History

After arriving at a coalition deal, the Kenya Kwanza Alliance announced that the positions of the coalitions' flag-bearer and running-mate were reserved for the UDA. Thus, UDA party leader William Ruto became the coalition's designated candidate. William Ruto chose

Rigathi Gachagua Geoffrey Rigathi Gachagua (born 28 February 1965) is a Kenyan politician, who is serving as the current Deputy President of Kenya since 2022. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Mathira Constituency between 2017 to 2022 as member ...

as his running mate in what was perceived as a blunder at the time, overlooking

Kithure Kindiki Abraham Kithure Kindiki (born 17 July 1972) is a Kenyan politician and lawyer serving as the Minister of Interior and Administration of National Government. He represented Tharaka-Nithi County in the Kenyan Senate from 2013 until 2022. Early li ...

, the senator for

Tharaka Nithi Tharaka () was a mythological king from Sri Lanka. According to legend, he designed the craft " Dandu Monara", which was able to fly, but he was unable to build it. Instead the king Ravana built it, and stories from Ramayana tell of him using it ...

. The Kenya Kwanza coalition deal also stipulated that upon winning the election, the position of Prime Cabinet Secretary was to be created and reserved for the founding party the Amani National Congress. The positions of Speaker of the National Assembly and Speaker of the Senate were reserved for FORD-Kenya and the

Pamoja African Alliance The Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) is a political party in Kenya. It is led by Amason Kingi. History In May 2022, the party left Kenya Kwanza and joined the Azimio La Umoja alliance. It contested the August 2022 general election and won 4 seats ...

respectively. After the 2022 elections, a dispute ensued between Kenya Kwanza and its main rival coalition, Azimio la Umoja, after both sides laid claim to the majority. Both Speaker of the National Assembly Moses Wetangula and his Senate counterpart Amason Kingi decided in favor of Kenya Kwanza.

Current composition

As of 12 April 2022, the alliance consisted of the following political parties: *

References

2022 establishments in Kenya Political parties established in 2022 Political party alliances in Kenya {{Kenya-party-stub