Kericho County is one of the 47

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. 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 Uasin Gishu County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya located in the former Rift Valley Province. Eldoret city has the county's largest population centre as well as its administrative and commercial centre. It is bordered by Elgeyo-Marakwet to t ...

to the North,

Baringo County Baringo County is one of the 47 Counties of Kenya, counties in Kenya. It is located in the former Rift Valley Province. Its headquarters and largest town is Kabarnet. The county is home to Lake Baringo, Lake Bogoria and Lake Kamnarok. Geographi ...

to the North-East, Nandi County to the North-West,

Nakuru County Nakuru County is a county in Kenya. It is county number 32 out of the 47 Kenyan counties. Nakuru County is a host to Kenya's Fourth City – Nakuru City. On 1 December 2021, President Uhuru Kenyatta awarded a City Charter status to Nakuru, ran ...

to the East and Bomet County to the South, Kisumu County to the Northwest and Nyamira County to the West. It had a population of 901,777 (2019 census) and an area of 2,111 km². 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.

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.

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. Source

Religion

Religion in Kericho County

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.

Electoral constituencies

The county has six constituencies: * Ainamoi Constituency * Belgut Constituency * Bureti Constituency * Kipkelion East Constituency * Kipkelion West Constituency * Sigowet–Soin Constituency Source

Political leadership

Prof. Paul Kiprono Chepkwony was the Governor serving his last term in office after being elected twic
2013

2017
and his deputy is Lily Kirui. Sen. Aaron Cheruiyot (Kiptoiyot) Aaron Cheruiyot is the Senator and was elected in 2015 after the first senator Charles Keter was appointed as th
cabinet secretary for Ministry of Energy
by President Uhuru Kenyatta. He was also re-elected in 2017. Florence Bore is the women representative and was elected in 2017 after winning against th
Hellen Chelangat Chepkwony
who was the first women representative for the county. For Kericho County, the County Executive Committee comprises:- Source

Members of Parliament in Kericho County 2017-2022

# Hon. Maritim, Sylvanus of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Ainamoi Constituency. # Hon. Koech, Nelson of Jubliee PartyMember of Parliament Belgut Constituency. # Hon. Mutai, Japheth Kiplangat of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Bureti Constituency. # Hon. Limo, Kirui Joseph of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Kipkelion East Constituency. # Hon. Kosgei, Hilary Kiplang’at of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Kipkelion West Constituency # Hon. Koros, Benard Kipsengeret of Jubliee Party Member of Parliament Sigowet–Soin Constituency.

Economy

The county hosts 25 trading centres, 5,813 registered businesses, 5807 licensed retail traders and 5,740 licensed wholesale traders. In 2022, the county produced 432 million kilos of tea. 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 The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

has criticised the British government for not providing "effective remedies and reparation" for colonial-era crimes, with representatives for these communities attempting to sue the British government through the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

(ECHR). 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. The use of tea plucking machines has been controversial in the area, leading to acts of industrial sabotage by disaffected youths.

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. Source

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

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

Services and urbanisation

Source
USAid Kenya