The question is whether Kenyans are resilient enough to overcome these challenges as a society without banking on unreliable politicians?
The leading challenge is for the country to hold fair and violence-free elections in 2012. Other East African Community member countries are waiting with bated breath, worried that there could be a repeat of the 2008 post-election violence that virtually brought trade in the region to a standstill.
There is no doubt that election-related chaos in Kenya, the biggest economy in the regional bloc, could spell doom for the regional economic and political integration process. It would be a pity for Kenya to be singled out as the major risk to the integration process.
Equally challenging is how the country deals with the outcome of the International Criminal Court confirmation hearings, whose verdict is expected mid January.
Some politicians have already prepared their supporters to react violently in case they are indicted.
And yet, the political leadership across the board has done little to educate the public about the fact that the ICC is a process involving international criminal justice and not local politics. Also worrying is that the government seems to have made up its mind not to co-operate with the ICC despite being a signatory to the Rome Statute.
The recent decision to appeal against a warrant issued by a Nairobi judge against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, is a clear indication that those who call the shots in the corridors of power are uncomfortable with the ICC process.
But this discomfort is not as sinister as the attempts to sabotage the implementation of the new constitution, Kenya's third challenge. Members of Parliament seem not to be interested in the implementation of the Constitution on schedule, being concerned only with those areas that favour their political survival.
Indeed, some within the political class appear keen to subvert the constitutional gains and maintain the status quo that bred ethnicity, suspicion and violence.
This is ominous.
None other than Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo has warned over the delay by the Cabinet in considering the second batch of constitution implementation Bills, which are supposed to be enacted by February 28, 2012.
There is a danger that MPs will rush through these Bills after the holidays and pass erroneous legislation, denying the public the opportunity to participate adequately as required by law, even some of these are very crucial Bills touching on public finance, devolution and land matters.
But collectively, Kenyans must worry that the war in Somalia is taking longer than expected with a chance of impacting negatively on an already unstable economy.
There is anxiety among Kenyans over whether they will face reprisal suicide bombings in the near future, and whether the Kenyan Defence Forces have a concrete exit strategy that does not put the country into disrepute.