Kakamega County has an altitude ranging from 1,240 metres to 2,000 metres above sea level. The southern part of the county is hilly and made of granites which raises it 1950m above sea level. The Nandi Escarpment is a key feature on the eastern border of the county with steep cliffs rising from 1700m to 2000m. The county is also endowed with a number of hills like Misango, Imanga, Eregi, Butieri, Sikhokhochole, Mawe Tatu, Lirhanda, Kiming’ini hills among others.[2][3]
Rainfall is uniformly distributed throughout the year with March and July receiving highest whereas December and February the least.
The county has annual rainfall that range from 1280.1 mm to 2214.1 mm per year. The temperature range is 18 °C to 29 °C with the hottest months being are January, February, March and on the others side July and August being the coldest.[2][4]
Demographics
As per 2019 census Kakamega county had a total population of 1,867,579 people, of which 897,133 are males, 970,406 being females and 40 intersex persons. There are 433,207 households with an average size of 4.3 persons per household and a population density of 618 people per square kilometre.
Administration wise, the county is divided into twelve sub counties, sixty county assembly wards, eighty three locations, two hundred and fifty sub-locations, one hundred and eighty seven Village Units and four hundred Community Administrative Areas. Politically, it comprises twelve constituencies and sixty wards.[6][7]
The governor is Fernandes Barasa and is deputised by Ayub Savula.[8][9] He has been governor since 2022, following the end of Wycliffe Oparanya's second and final term in office. Boni Khalwale is the senator and joined office in 2022 after defeating Brian Lishenga.[10]Elsie Busihile Muhanda is the women representative and joined the office in 2017 after defeating Rachel Amamo who was the first elected women representative 2013–2017.[11][12]
For Kakamega County, the County Executive Committee comprises:-
There are 1631 ECD centres 1136 primary schools and 408 secondary schools. The county has also 4 teachers training colleges, 51 Youth Polytechnics, 3 technical training institutes, 6 university campuses and 1 university as at 2014.[14]
Kakamega has one county referral hospital (Kakamega County General Teaching & Referral Hospital), 12 sub-county hospitals, 47 health centres, 123 dispensaries and 44 clinics. Both private and public health facilities hold a total bed capacity of 3,949 with public sector having 2,338 beds and private hospitals 197 beds and mission/NGO is 1,414 beds capacity.[2][15]
HIV prevalence in Kakamega County is 4.0% lower than the national one that is at 5.9%.[17]
There are 62 trading centres, 11,083 retail traders, 21 supermarkets, 203 wholesale traders and 1180 registered hotels.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the backbone of the county with it producing over 65 per cent of the total earnings.
There are two main categories of crops food crops and industrial crops and the last category being horticulture. Food crops include maize, sorghum, finger millet, rice, beans, peas, grams, cassava, potatoes, and arrowroots.[15]
Transport and communication
The county is covered by 4,451.3 km of road network. of this 1,308.90 km is covered by earth surface, 2,792.25 is covered by gravel, 939.32 km is murram surface and 307.5 km is covered by bitumen.[2]
There are 14 Post Offices with 8,400 installed letter boxes, 6,969 rented letter boxes and 1,431 vacant letter boxes.[15]
Kenya