Kericho County
County
Location in Kenya
Location in Kenya
Coordinates: 0°24′S 35°18′E / 0.4°S 35.3°E / -0.4; 35.3
Country Kenya
Formed4 March 2013
CapitalKericho
Government
 • GovernorDr. Erick Mutai Equalizer
Area
 • Total2,454.5 km2 (947.7 sq mi)
Population
 (2019)
 • Total901,777[1]
Time zoneUTC+3 (EAT)
Websitekericho.go.ke

Kericho County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya. The county seats between longitude 35°02' and 35°40' East and between the equator and latitude 0°23' South with an altitude of about 2002m above sea level. It borders Uasin Gishu County to the North West, Baringo County to the North-East, Nandi County to the North-West, Nakuru County to the East and Bomet County to the South, Kisumu County to the Northwest and Nyamira County to the West. It has a population of 901,777 (2019 census) and an area of 2,111 km².[2][3] Its capital and largest town is Kericho.

Kericho County is home to the largest Kenyan tea plantations. Some of the largest tea companies including Unilever Kenya, James Finlay and Williamson Tea are based here. It is also home to the popular Ketepa brand.

The defunct Buret District is now part of Kericho County.

Physical and topical features

County slopes gently from 2500m to about 1,800m above the sea level. The county is surrounded by a number of hills such as Tinderet Hills to the North, Mau Escarpment and Londiani hills (Tuluap-Kipsigis). A good number of rivers emanate from the county including Chemosit, Kiptaret, Kipsonoi, Timbilil, Maramara, Itare, Nyando, Kipchorian and Malaget.[3]

Climatic conditions

County has a temperature range between 10C - 29C and rainfall of 2,125mm p.a being highest in central part of county where they plant tea and 1,400 mm p.a. in lower parts of Soin and parts of Kipkelion. County has rainy seasons April to June and October to December.[4]

Demographics

Kericho county has a total population of 901,777 of which 450,741 are males, 451,008 females and 28 intersex persons. There are 206,036 household with an average household size of 4.4 persons per household and a population density 370 people per square kilometre.[5]

Distribution of Population by Sex and Sub-County
Sub-County Male Female Intersex Total
Belgut 72,508 72,564 145,072
Buret 98,823 100,642 5 199,470
Kericho East 86,671 83,947 7 170,625
Kipkelion 61,066 61,460 4 122,530
Londiani 68,570 69,000 10 137,580
Soin Sigowet 63,31036 63,395 2 126,500
Total 450,741 451,008 28 901,777

Source[6]

Religion

Religion in Kericho County [7]

Religion (2019 Census) Number
Catholicismy99,191
Protestant396,003
Evangelical Churches262,307
African instituted Churches55,903
Orthodox2,949
Other Cristian38,915
Islam2,423
Hindu461
Traditionists1,358
Other11,322
No ReligionAtheists25,030
Don't Know838
Not Stated163

Administrative and political units

Administrative units

There are six sub counties, thirty county assembly wards, eighty five locations and two hundred and nine sub-locations.[8]

Electoral constituencies

The county has six constituencies:

Source[9]

Political leadership

No Portrait Governor's Name Elected Term of Office Political Party Deputy Governor
1 Paul Chepkwony 2013-2022 10 years TBA Lily Kirui[10]
2 Eric Mutai[9] 2022 Incumbent TBA Fred Kirui[8]

Prof. Paul Kiprono Chepkwony was the Governor serving his last term in office after being elected twice 2013 Archived 27 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine, 2017 and his deputy is Lily Kirui.[10] Sen. Aaron Cheruiyot (Kiptoiyot) Aaron Cheruiyot is the Senator and was elected in 2015 after the first senator Charles Keter was appointed as the cabinet secretary for Ministry of Energy by President Uhuru Kenyatta.[11] He was also re-elected in 2017. Florence Bore is the women representative and was elected in 2017 after winning against the Hellen Chelangat Chepkwony who was the first women representative for the county.[12]

For Kericho County, the County Executive Committee comprises:-

County Executive Committee
Number
The Governor 1
The Deputy Governor 1
The County Secretary 1
The CEC Members 10
Total 13

Source[13]

Members of Parliament in Kericho County 2017-2022

  1. Hon. Maritim, Sylvanus[14] of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Ainamoi Constituency.[15]
  2. Hon. Koech, Nelson[16] of Jubliee PartyMember of Parliament Belgut Constituency.[17]
  3. Hon. Mutai, Japheth Kiplangat[18] of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Bureti Constituency.[19]
  4. Hon. Limo, Kirui Joseph[20] of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Kipkelion East Constituency.[21]
  5. Hon. Kosgei, Hilary Kiplang’at[22] of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Kipkelion West Constituency[23]
  6. Hon. Koros, Benard Kipsengeret[24] of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Sigowet–Soin Constituency.[25]

Economy

The county hosts 25 trading centres, 5,813 registered businesses, 5807 licensed retail traders and 5,740 licensed wholesale traders.[26] In 2022, the county produced 432 million kilos of tea.[27] The acquisition of these lands has long been controversial, particularly as it relates to the eviction of Kipsigis and Talai people from their land by British forces when Kenya was a British colony. The United Nations has criticised the British government for not providing "effective remedies and reparation" for colonial-era crimes,[28] with representatives for these communities attempting to sue the British government through the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).[29]

There are a number of industries in Kericho such as cement industry (Rai Cement Limited) and steel industry (Prime Steel Limited), Soin Sugar Company all three of them located in Soin ward, 18 tea processing factories, in various sub-counties, dairy processing plants in various sub-counties and Kipkelion District coffee union process coffee in Fort Ternan, Kipkelion Sub-county.[3] The use of tea plucking machines has been controversial in the area, leading to acts of industrial sabotage by disaffected youths.[30]

Education

There are 1054 ECD centres 803 primary schools and 229 secondary schools. The county has also 1 teachers training colleges, 6 Youth Polytechnics, 80 adult training institutions and 6 technical training institutions.[4]

Education Institutions in County
Category Public Private Total Enrolment
ECD Centres 565 489 1,054 45,620
Primary schools 526 277 803 242,034
Secondary schools 214 15 229 69,081
Youth Polytechnics 6 0 6 1,525
Technical Training Institutes 6 0 6
Adult Education Centres 4,697

Source[31][26]

Health

There are a total of 136 health facilities in the county with one county referral hospital. County has 2,084 health personnel of different cadre. The immunisation coverage is at 61% and still below the national target of 90%.[3]

HIV prevalence is at 3.5% below the national 5.9% (Kenya HIV Estimates 2015).[32]

Health Facilities by Ownership
Government *FBO Private NGO TOTAL
Hospitals 7 2 5 14
Health centres 136 8 1 36 180
Dispensaries 127 5 25 2 159
Clinics 1 10 2 13

Source[33][3]

Transport and communication

The county is covered by 1,110.7 km of road network. of this 411.1 km is covered by earth surface, 484.7 km is murram surface and 214.9 km is covered by bitumen.[34][35]

There are 8 Post Offices with 2,299 installed letter boxes, 2,079 rented letter boxes and 220 vacant letter boxes.[26]

Services and urbanisation

Stats for Kericho County
County
Stats for the County (Per cent)
Urbanisation
28.3
Literacy
79
Attending School (15-18 Yrs)
79.7
Paved Roads
13.8
Good Roads
58.5
Electricity Access
11.8
Poverty Rate
44.2

Stats for the County

Source: USAid Kenya

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Kenya Census 2009". Retrieved 15 May 2016 – via Scribd.
  2. ↑ "Kenya Districts". statoids.com. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Second Generation County Integrated Development Plan CIDP 2018-2022 Kericho County". Council of Governors. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  4. 1 2 Second Generation County Integrated Development Plan CIDP 2018-2022 Kericho County. County Government of Kericho. 2018. p. 3.
  5. ↑ Munene, Evans (4 November 2019). "2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Results". Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  6. ↑ 2019 Kenya Population and House Census: Population by County and Sub-county. Volume 1. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. 2019. pp. 17, 19, 20, 28, 37, 46. ISBN 9789966102096.
  7. ↑ "2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Volume IV: Distribution of Population by Socio-Economic Characteristics" (PDF). Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  8. 1 2 interior_admin. "Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government". interior.go.ke. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  9. 1 2 "The Report of the Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission (IIBRC): Delimitation of Constituencies and Recommendations on Local Authority Electoral Units and Administrative Boundaries for Districts and Other Units" (PDF). IIBRC. 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Governors & Deputy Governors". cog.go.ke. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  11. ↑ "Members of the Senate | The Kenyan Parliament Website". www.parliament.go.ke. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  12. ↑ "Women Representatives | KEWOPA KENYA". Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  13. ↑ "179. County executive committees - Kenya Law Reform Commission (KLRC)". www.klrc.go.ke. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  14. ↑ "Sylvanus Maritim". Mzalendo. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  15. ↑ "Hon. Maritim, Sylvanus | The Kenyan Parliament Website". parliament.go.ke. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  16. ↑ "Nelson Koech". Mzalendo. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  17. ↑ "Hon. Koech, Nelson | The Kenyan Parliament Website". www.parliament.go.ke. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  18. ↑ "Japheth Kiplangat Mutai". Mzalendo. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  19. ↑ "Hon. Mutai, Japheth Kiplangat | The Kenyan Parliament Website". www.parliament.go.ke. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  20. ↑ "Joseph Kirui Limo". Mzalendo. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  21. ↑ "Hon. Limo, Kirui Joseph | The Kenyan Parliament Website". www.parliament.go.ke. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  22. ↑ "Hilary Kiplang'at Kosgei". Mzalendo. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  23. ↑ "Hon. Kosgei, Hilary Kiplang'at | The Kenyan Parliament Website". www.parliament.go.ke. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  24. ↑ "Benard Kipsengeret Koros". Mzalendo. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  25. ↑ "Hon. Koros, Benard Kipsengeret | The Kenyan Parliament Website". www.parliament.go.ke. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  26. 1 2 3 "Kericho County Statistical Abstract 2015". Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  27. ↑ "Justice from the King?". New Internationalist. 30 October 2023.
  28. ↑ Parveen, Nazia (3 August 2021). "UN criticises UK for failure to redress colonial-era landgrab in Kenya". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  29. ↑ "Kenyans seek to sue UK for alleged colonial abuses". BBC News. 23 August 2022.
  30. ↑ "Chaos as Kericho residents torch tea plucking machines". Nation. 23 May 2023.
  31. ↑ "EDUCATION, SOCIAL SERVICES, YOUTH AND CULTURE | KERICHO COUNTY". www.kericho.go.ke. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  32. ↑ "Kenya HIV Estimates Report 2018" (PDF). National AIDS Control Council. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  33. ↑ "Health Services | Kericho County". www.kericho.go.ke. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  34. ↑ "Kenya Rural Roads Authority". www.kerra.go.ke. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  35. ↑ "Kenya Urban Roads Authority". kura.go.ke. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
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