Mbale is a town in

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. ...

and is the capital and largest town of

Vihiga County Vihiga County is a County located in the former Western Province of Kenya with its headquarters in Mbale, the largest town in the county. According to the 2009 census,the county has a population of 554,622 and an area of 563 km2. Vihiga ...

. It is also called ''Maragoli'', after the indigenous inhabitants of the area.

Location

The town is located on the Kisumu–Kakamega–Webuye–Kitale Road, approximately , north of

Kisumu Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya located in the Lake Victoria area in the former Nyanza Province. It is the second-largest city after Kampala in the Lake Victoria Basin. The city has a population of slightly over 600,000. The ...

, and about , south of

Kakamega Kakamega is a town in western Kenya lying about 30 km north of the Equator. It is the headquarters of Kakamega County that has a population of 1,867,579 (2019 census). The town has an urban population of 107,227 (2019 census). Kakamega ...

. The coordinates of Mbale, Kenya are: 0°04'54.0"N, 34°43'17.0"E (Latitude:0.081667; Longitude:34.721389).

Population

Mbale's population is estimated at 60,000 people of different races and ethnicities, which include the Luhya, Kikuyu, Kisii, Luo and Asians.

Overview

Mbale has five major hotels and four major bars that serve people from as far as

and

. Mbale has four major banks, namely

Barclays Bank Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

, Equity Bank,

Co-operative Bank Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking carr ...

, and

KCB Bank Kenya Limited KCB Bank Kenya Limited is a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. It is licensed as a commercial bank, by the Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator. The bank has also been running an agency banking m ...

. It also has one Sacco bank, namely Kakamega Teachers Sacco Society, which is yet to be officially launched but is operational at the moment. Mbale has over a hundred small businesses such as shops, tailoring, bread distribution, cyber cafe services, healthcare services, construction, real estate, property management and hotels. It is home to the annual Maragoli Cultural Festival, which is held every 26 December.

Schools

The town has nearly a dozen primary schools, including ''Hambale Primary School'', ''Idavaga Muslim Primary School'', ''Shalom Academy'' and ''Mukuli Primary School''. The five secondary schools are ''Mbale High School'', ''St. Clares Maragoli Secondary School'', ''Kegoye Friends' Secondary School'' and ''Mbihi Secondary School''. The former Vihiga County Governor, Moses Akaranga is an alumnus of Mbale High School.

Health

Mbale, Kenya is home to two hospitals; (a) ''Mbale Rural Provincial Health & Training Centre'', and (b) ''Vihiga District Hospital''

Religion

There are many places of worship in the town, including The Salvation Army Church,

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

, African Israel Church Nineveh,

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and others.

References

External links

Maragoli Cultural Festival
As of 26 December 2011. {{coord, 00, 04, 54, N, 34, 43, 17, E, display=title, region:KE_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Vihiga County Cities in the Great Rift Valley County capitals in Kenya