Baringo County

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Baringo County
Flag of Baringo County.png
Coat of Arms of Baringo County.png
Baringo County in Kenya.svg
Location in Kenya
CountryFlag of Kenya.svg  Kenya
Formed4 March 2013
Capital Kabarnet
Government
   Governor Benjamin Cheboi
Area
  Total
11,075.3 km2 (4,276.2 sq mi)
Population
 (2019 census)
  Total
666,763
  Density60/km2 (160/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+3 (EAT)
Website

Baringo County is one of the 47 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.

Contents

Geographical location

Baringo is bordered by Turkana County and West Pokot County to the North, Samburu County and Laikipia County to the East, Nakuru County and Kericho County to the South, Uasin Gishu County to the South West and Elgeyo Marakwet County to the West. It covers an area of 8,655 km2. Baringo County lies between Latitudes 00 degrees 13" South and 1 degree 40" north and Longitudes 35 degrees 36" and 36" degrees 30" East. [1]

Administrative and political units

Baringo has seven administrative sub-counties

  1. Baringo Central
  2. Tiaty East
  3. Tiaty West
  4. Eldama Ravine
  5. Baringo South
  6. Mogotio
  7. Baringo North

Administrative and electoral units in Baringo County

Baringo county has a total of thirty electoral wards and one hundred and sixteen locations. [2] The electoral wards is run by an elected Member of County Assembly(MCA) while a location is led by Chief appointed by the national government.

ConstituencyArea KM sqElectoral WardsLocations
Baringo South1,678417
Mogotio1,315324
Eldama Ravine1,003616
Baringo Central800521
Baringo North1,704514
Tiaty4,517724
Total11,01530116

Source [3] [4] [5]

Demographics

The county has a population of 666,763 (2019 census) and an area of 10,976.4 km2 (4,238.0 sq mi). [6]

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1979 203,792    
1989 347,990+70.8%
1999 403,141+15.8%
2009 555,561+37.8%
2019 666,763+20.0%
source: [7]

Distribution of population by sex and sub-county

SubcountyMaleFemaleIntersexTotal
1Baringo Central48,12048,829296,951
2Baringo North52,36952,5002104,871
3East Pokot40,46239,459279,923
4Eldama Ravine65,29564,2382129,535
5Baringo South45,70645,246390,955
6Mogotio47,01445,088291,104
7Tiaty East38,35635,068-73,424
TOTAL336,322330,42813666,673

Source [8] [3]

Religion

Religion in Baringo County [9]

Religion (2019 Census)Number
Catholicism 122,620
Protestant 291,992
Evangelical Churches 111,615
African instituted Churches 40,269
Orthodox 976
Other Christian 28,449
Islam 5,241
Hindu 90
Traditionists23,589
Other12,275
No ReligionAtheists 23,697
Don't Know1,914
Not Stated33

Religion and ethnicities

Red Cross team at work in East Pokot Rainbow in East Pokot 01.jpg
Red Cross team at work in East Pokot

The county is largely occupied by the Tugen, Lembus, Ndorois and Pokot people, which are Sub-Tribes of the Kalenjin people. The Tugen people include the Samor, Chapchap, and the Sachek of Sacho. Other communities residing in Baringo County include the Ilchamus, Turkana, Kikuyu, Numbians, and others. Christianity is the most practiced religion in the county. Traditionally, Baringo people believed in a Supreme Being known as Asis , who is represented by the sun; however, currently, most individuals in the county believe in Christianity. [10] The well-known Christian denominations within Baringo County include the African Inland Church (AIC), Anglican Church of Kenya(ACK), FGCK and Roman Catholic. [10]

County government

The current county governor is Benjamin Chesire Cheboi, [11] the deputy governor is Eng. Felix Kipngo'k who is the eldest son of the former deputy governor Charles Kipng'ok [12] who collapsed and died on 14 September 2022, at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport while boarding a plane to Mombasa; barely a month after taking oath of office. The current Senator is William Kipkorir Cheptumo [13] after overwhelmingly defeating the former senator Gideon Moi [14] on the 9 August polls. The current County Women Representative is Flowrence Jematiah Sergon. [15] The County Executive Committee [16] consists of the following:

CEC MemberDocket
Mrs. Scola Jepkesei KimeliDevolution, Public Service Management and Administration, e-government and ICT
Mr. Richard K RotichHealth Services & Ag. CEC Land, Housing and Urban Development
Ms. Mary Chebet PangaEnvironment, Natural Resources, Tourism and Wildlife Management
Dr. Maureen Jemutai RotichWater and Irrigation & Ag. CEC Agriculture, Livestock Development and Fisheries
Mr. Elijah Kiprop KipkorosEnvironment and Natural Resources
Mr. Enock KestonTransport, Public Works and Infrastructure & Ag. County Secretary
Mr. David Sergon ChesireEducation, Sports, Youth, Gender Affairs,Culture and Social Services & Ag. CEC Industry , Commerce, Enterprise and Co-orperative Development

Other CEC Positions shall be updated by Ruzeki [17] once they are filled.

Economics

The economy of the county is mainly agro-based. The main food crops grown are maize, pigeon peas, beans, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, sorghum, cassava and finger millet while the cash crops are coffee, cotton, macadamia and pyrethrum. [18] Livestock products include honey, beef, mutton as well as hides and skins. However, little value addition is done to these products.

Urbanization

Major urban centres in the county are Kabarnet, Eldama Ravine, Marigat, Mogotio, Kabartonjo, Chemolingot and Tangulbei.

Tourism and wildlife

Major attractions include: [19]

Major tourist hotels in the county are:

Education

Kabarnet town hosts a number of university campuses including those of Baringo University, Mount Kenya University, Egerton University, and Kisii University.

Secondary schools include Kabarnet High School,solian girls, Baringo High School, Kapropita High School, and Kituro High School, Tabagon Girls, Pemwai Girls, Tenges Boys among others

There are six hundred and eighty seven primary schools, out of this 601 are public and 86 are private schools. [2] In Secondary school category they are a total of one hundred and fifty nine (159) schools; one hundred and forty seven being public secondary schools and twelve being private public secondary schools. [20]

Health

Kabarnet County Referral Hospital is the largest and best public hospital in the county. There are a total of 172 health facilities; seven level four, 25 level three and 140 level 2 centres. [21]

Transport and infrastructure

The county headquarters is linked to Nakuru and Eldoret by class C roads which fall under the Kenya National Highways Authority (KENHA).

In January 2016, Fly-SAX began twice-weekly flights between Lake Baringo Airport and Nairobi–Wilson, becoming the first airline to serve the airport. [22] [2]

There are 339 kms of bitumen, 2141km of murram and 995 km of earth roads in the county. [23] [24] As of 2014 a total of 9 postal offices were spread across the county with letter boxes of 2950 installed. 2510 of them were rented and 440 remained vacant. [25]

Constituencies

The county has six constituencies: Baringo Central, Baringo South, Baringo North, Eldama Ravine, Mogotio, and Tiaty.

Villages and settlements

References

  1. "Baringo County Government - Home". www.baringo.go.ke. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (2015). County Statistical Abstract Baringo County. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
  3. 1 2 "Publications". Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  4. "Baringo County Government - Who We Are". www.baringo.go.ke. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  5. interior_admin. "Home". interior.go.ke. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  6. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (2019). 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
  7. Kenya: Administrative Division population statistics
  8. Munene, Evans (4 November 2019). "2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Results". Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  9. "2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Volume IV: Distribution of Population by Socio-Economic Characteristics" (PDF). Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  10. 1 2 "About Baringo County in Kenya". www.kenya-information-guide.com. Archived from the original on 3 December 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  11. "Baringo County Government - Governor Cheboi starts 5 day development tour of Tiaty".
  12. Baringo
  13. "Sen. Kipkiror William Cheptumo | the Kenyan Parliament Website".
  14. "Sen. Moi Gideon Kipsielei | the Kenyan Parliament Website".
  15. "Sergon Jematiah Flowrence | East African Legislative Assembly".
  16. "Baringo". Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  17. Suspended Twitter account [ dead link ]
  18. "Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries". www.baringo.go.ke. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  19. "Industrialization, Commerce, Tourism & Enterprise Development". www.baringo.go.ke. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  20. "Home". www.education.go.ke. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  21. "Baringo County Government - Health Services". baringo.go.ke. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  22. "Fly SAX starts flights to Lake Baringo". African Aerospace. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  23. "Home". www.kerra.go.ke. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  24. "Baringo Region". www.kerra.go.ke. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  25. "Postal Corporation of Kenya". www.posta.co.ke. Retrieved 25 May 2020.

0°40′N36°00′E / 0.667°N 36.000°E / 0.667; 36.000