Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta was, literally, born into the political elite. He is the first son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's founding father and the first president of an independent Kenya. Uhuru Kenyatta is one of Kenya’s richest men and most powerful politicians and has long yearned to follow in his father’s footsteps. He lost to current President Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 election, which brought an end to 24 years of rule under autocrat Daniel arap Moi. After a period as leader of the opposition, Kenyatta was first local government minister, then trade minister, and finally finance minister in Kibaki’s current government.
Educated in Nairobi’s best schools and at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Kenyatta is occasionally ridiculed by Kenyan cartoonists who portray him wearing diapers – an allusion to his apparent youthfulness (he is 49) and the fact that his has yet to step out from his father’s shadow. But he is in fact a shrewd businessman and politician. He stepped down from the 2007 presidential race and threw his support behind Kibaki, a fellow Kikuyu. He reportedly said he did not want to contest the poll unless he was sure of winning. He is now seen as one of the two or three most senior Kikuyu leaders in the country. Now, however, he has been accused of organizing a mafia-like Kikuyu militia, the Mungiki, to carry out some of the worst of the 2008 post-election violence. Any drawn-out ICC case will dash his hopes of winning election in 2012's presidential poll, which he has said he wants to contest.
