Trans Nzoia County!

Trans Nzoia is one of the forty-seven counties in Kenya as provided in the Kenyan constitution 2010.It comprises 5 sub counties namely; Kiminini, Saboti, Endebess, Kwanza and Cherangany which all have a total of 25 wards. The 2019 Census enumerated a total of 990,341 persons consisting of 489,107 males, 501,206 females and 28 inter sex. The County has 223,808 Households with an average Household size of 4.4 as per the Census Report.

The County has one municipality namely Kitale which is the county headquarter and the main commercial centre. Other townships/major market centres include Kiminini, Kachibora, Saboti and Endebess.

Trans Nzoia is a cosmopolitan county with majority of the 44 Kenyan tribes residing in the county. The dominant communities include the Luhya and Kalenjin while other communities include Kikuyu, Kisii, Luo, Teso, and Turkana among others. The County is formerly a part of the white highland with agriculture as the predominant economic activity. The fertile soils and favourable climatic conditions favour production of all types of crops and notably the county is well known for the large-scale production of maize and this has enabled the county to be christened “Kenya’s breadbasket”. Other major contributors to the county GDP are trade and tourism. The county has two National parks of Mt.Elgon and Cherangany and is home to two of the five Kenyan Water towers, the Mt.Elgon and Cherangany Hills. The County boasts of both indigenous and exotic forests. Compared to the 10% tree cover required nationally, the County’s tree cover currently stands at 17%. This has been achieved by the presence of major forest covers such as Mt.Elgon, Kapolet, Sikhendu and Kitale town. Other smaller covers include: -Saboti, Sosio, Kitalale, Suam, Kimothon and Kiptogot forests.

Trans Nzoia County is strategically located as the gateway and link to the Southern Sudan through West Pokot (Kapenguria town) and Turkana County (Lodwar town) and Uganda through the Suam Border. The National trunk road 1A from Isebania (Kenya-Tanzania Border) to Nadapal (Kenya-Southern Sudan Border) transverses the county. The county is also connected to the lake region through Kisumu city as well as Eldoret and is accessible to the Capital City of Kenya, Nairobi. The county boasts 23 Km, a modern Airstrip and is connected to surrounding counties by a network of tarmac and murram roads making it a transit county and local economic hub within the North rift region.