Kisii County is a county in the former Nyanza Province in southwestern Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Kisii. The county has a population of 1,266,860 people.[2] It borders Nyamira County to the North East, Narok County to the South, and Homa bay and Migori Counties to the West.[3] The county covers an area of 1,318 km2.[4]
There is total population of 1,266,860 of which 605,784 are males, 661,038 females and 38 intersex persons. There are 308,054 household with an average household size of 4.1 persons per household and a population density 958 people per square kilometre.[6]
Distribution of population by sex and sub-county[6]
Sub-County
Male
Female
Intersex
Total
Etago
40,137
43,647
3
83,787
Gucha
39,631
44,108
1
83,740
Gucha South
40,022
43,598
3
83,623
Kenyenya
62,859
68,878
3
131,740
Kisii Central
81,330
85,573
3
166,906
Kisii South
64,514
70,615
5
135,134
Kitutu Central
74,608
79,561
6
154,175
Marani
50,598
56,864
2
107,464
Masaba South
58,143
64,248
5
122,396
Nyamache
62,113
68,782
3
130,898
Sameta.
31,829
35,164
4
66,997
Total
605,784
661,038
38
1,266,860
Climatic conditions
Kisii receives an average rainfall of 1500 millimeters, with long rains falling in March and June. Maximum temperature range between 21 °C – 30 °C (69.8 °F – 86 °F) and minimum temperatures range between 15 °C – 20 °C (59 °F – 68 °F).[4]
Administrative and political units
County leadership
Simba Arati is the current governor after clinching the seat with 270,928 votes in the 2022 election.[7] Robert Monda served as his deputy between August 2022 and March 2024 who was impeached by the senate and in his place the governor nominated Elijah Obebo , Richard Onyoka as the county senator, and Donya Toto as the county Woman Representative at the National Assembly.[8]
James Ongwae was the first governor after being elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2017 for a second and final term.[9] He was deputized by Joash Maangi Gongera.[10]Prof. Samson Ongeri is the senator and joined office in 2017 after flooring the first senator of the county Chris Obure.[11][12]Janet Ongera is the woman representative and second to hold office, Mary Keraa-Otara being the first elected women representative.[13][14]
For Kisii County, the County Executive Committee comprises:-
There are nine constituencies, eleven sub-counties, forty five county assembly wards, one hundred and three locations and two hundred and thirty seven sub-locations.[16]
Political units
The county has nine electoral constituencies:[17] The county has eleven sub-counties. They are derived from the same constituency boundaries but two constituencies, Bobasi and South Mugirango, have two sub-counties each. The sub-counties often work directly with national government.[18]
There are 1079 ECD centres 1081 primary schools and 371 secondary schools. The county has also 1 teachers training colleges, 49 Youth Polytechnics, 63 Technical, vocational education and training (VET) 158 adult training, 1 University and 3 university campuses.[19]
The county is covered by 1,131.8 km of road network. of this 669.2 km is covered by earth surface, 292.6 km is murram surface and 170 km is covered by bitumen.[23][24]
Trade and commerce
There are 102 trading centres, 16,199 registered businesses, 12,110 licensed retail traders, 49 supermarkets, 365 licensed wholesale traders.[25]
Kenya
