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Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in Eastern Africa. At 580,367 square kilometres (224,081 sq mi), Kenya is the world's 48th largest country by area. With a population of more than 47.6 million in the 2019 census, Kenya is the 29th most populous country. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest city and first capital is the coastal city of Mombasa. Kisumu City is the third-largest city and also an inland port on Lake Victoria. Other important urban centres include Nakuru and Eldoret. As of 2020, Kenya is the third-largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and South Africa. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast. Its geography, climate and population vary widely, ranging from cold snow-capped mountaintops with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates in western and rift valley counties and dry less fertile arid and semi-arid areas and absolute deserts.
Kisumu is the third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa. It is the third-largest city in the Lake Victoria Basin. Kisumu is not far from Kogelo, a village known for being the hometown of Barack Obama Sr., the father to the 44th president of the United States. Culturally, Kisumu serves as the headquarters of the Luo speaking people of East Africa. It was the most prominent urban centre in the pre-colonial, post-colonial, and modern era for natives of Kavirondo region. Some of the most significant political events that have shaped the trajectory Kenya have happened in Kisumu including the famous political spat between founding president of Kenya Jomo Kenyatta and founding vice president Jaramogi Odinga during the opening of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in 1969. Apart from being an important political city, it is one of the premier industrial and commercial centres in Kenya. The city is currently undergoing an urban rejuvenation of the downtown and lower town which includes modernizing the lake front, decongesting main streets, and making the streets pedestrian-friendly.
The Luhya comprise a number of ethnic groups native to western Kenya. They are divided into 20 culturally and linguistically related tribes. They number 6,823,842 people according to the 2019 national census, accounting for about 14.34% of Kenya's total population.
The Suba (Abasuba) are a heterogeneous Bantu group of people in Kenya with an amalgamation of clans drawn from their main tribes Ganda people, Luhya people, and Soga who speak the Suba language that is closely similar to the Ganda language spare some lexical items borrowed from Dholuo and Kuria. Their population is estimated at about 157,787, with substantial fluent speakers. They migrated to Kenya from Uganda and settled on the two Lake Victoria islands of Rusinga and Mfangano, others also settled on the mainland areas including Gembe, Gwassi, Kaksingri of Suba South and Migori and are believed to be the last tribe to have settled in Kenya. The immigrants to present-day Subaland trace their ancestry among Ganda people, Luhya people, Soga people, Kuria people, Luo people and the Abagusii. The evidence supporting this is the fact that some Suba groups speak languages similar to Luganda, Lusoga, Kuria, Luhya and the Ekegusii. The Suba groups tracing ancestry among the Kenyan tribes preceded those groups from Uganda in present-day Subaland and are the numerous and influential ones. Those groups from Uganda are mostly concentrated in Rusinga and Mfangano islands with small pockets of them being found in mainland Kenya. Linguistically, the Suba are highly influenced by the neighbouring Luo, to the point of a language shift having taken place among large portions of the mainland Suba. As a result, their own language has been classified as endangered. Despite this language shift, the Suba have kept a distinct ethnic identity. The Rusinga Festival is held in December of every year as a cultural festival to celebrate and preserve Suba culture and language.
After the 2013 general election, and the coming into effect of the new constitution, provinces became defunct and the country was now divided into 47 counties. Each county has its own government and therefore there is no central regional capital. Western Province became the Western region, comprising four counties: Kakamega, Bungoma, Vihiga, and Busia.
Forum for the Restoration of Democracy–Kenya (FORD–Kenya) is a Kenyan political party. It was part of the National Rainbow Coalition that governed Kenya from 2003 to 2007, having ended forty years of Kenya African National Union rule. It is allied to the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy which is the main opposition coalition in Kenya's parliament and is headed by Moses Wetangula, the Senator for Bungoma County.
Busia is a county in the former Western Province of Kenya. It borders Kakamega County to the east, Bungoma County to the north, Lake Victoria and Siaya County to the south and Busia District, Uganda to the west. The county has about 893,000 people and spans about 1,700 square kilometers making it one of the smallest counties in Kenya. Busia is inhabited by the Luhya tribe of Kenya with smaller groups of Teso and Luo. The Luhya communities include the Abakhayo, Marachi, Samia and Abanyala communities.
Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi is a Kenyan politician, who served as the seventh Vice President of Kenya in 2002 and as Deputy Prime Minister from 2008- 2012 May when he resigned officially to join the presidential race. He is the current Party Leader of Amani National Congress after decamping from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) led by the prime minister Raila Odinga in 2012 where before his resignation he served as the deputy party leader. He was third in the 2013 Kenyan general election. Mudavadi is among the top contenders for the 2022 Kenya presidential election
The Maragoli, or Logoli (Ava-Logooli), are now the second-largest ethnic group of the 6 million-strong Luhya nation in Kenya, numbering around 2.1 million, or 15% of the Luhya people according to the last Kenyan census. Their language is called Logoli, Lulogooli, Ululogooli, or Maragoli. The name Maragoli probably emerged later on after interaction of the people with missionaries of the Quaker Church.
Mbale is a town in Kenya. It is the capital and largest town of Vihiga County. It is also called Maragoli, after the indigenous inhabitants of the area.
Moses Mudamba Mudavadi (1923-1989) was an influential politician from Sabatia, Kenya, in the early post-independence years under former president Daniel Moi.
Bunyore is a locality in the Vihiga County in the western province of Kenya. It is largely inhabited by Luhya, who speak the OLunyole dialect of the Luhya language. In the local language, the place is known as Ebunyore and its people as the Abanyore. It is divided into eight locations namely Central Bunyore, West Bunyore, South Bunyore, South-West Bunyore, East Bunyore, North Bunyore, North East Bunyore, and Wekhomo. Prior to 1990, Bunyore was under Kakamega District, divided into East and West Bunyore locations. As population increased, the former West Bunyore was split into Central, West, South and South West locations while the former East Bunyore was split into North, North East, Wekhomo and East Bunyore locations in order to better serve the people.
Msambweni in Swahili) is a small fishing town and constituency in Kwale County of southeastern Kenya, formerly in Kwale District of Coast Province. The origin of the name, Msambwe is a hardy and wild fruits tree indigenous to Msambweni. A few remnants of the Msambwe trees are still existing at Mkunguni Beach, Sawa Sawa Village. By road, Msambweni is 55.4 kilometres (34.4 mi) south of Mombasa and 46.5 kilometres (28.9 mi) northeast of Lunga Lunga on the Tanzanian border. As of 2009, the town had a population of 11,985 people.
Tiriki is one of sixteen clans and dialects of the Abaluyia People of Western Kenya. The word Tiriki is also used to refer to their Geographical Location in Hamisi Division, Vihiga County, in the Western province of Kenya. Hamisi Constituency now Hamisi Sub County is one of the longest in Kenya stretching from Gambogi to Shiru which boarders Kapsabet and Musunji which boarders Kakamega Forest.
The Wanga kingdom is a Bantu kingdom within Kenya, consisting of the Wanga (Abawanga) tribe of the Luhya people (Abaluyia). At its peak the kingdom covered an expansive area from Jinja in west to Naivasha in the East African Rift. The Wanga kingdom was a significant African empire and the most organized structure of government in pre-colonial Kenya politically, economically, and militarily.
Eric Edward Khasakhala, known as "Omwana wa Kwendo" was a Kenyan politician, educationist, Pan Africanist, independence activist, Cabinet Minister and one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya. He was a participant of the delegation at the negotiations for Independence at the Lancaster House Conferences; he was instrumental in the formation of Kenya's Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) party, which he served as one of the party officers. The KADU advocated for the federalist post independent Kenya.
The Tobong'u Lore, known in English as the Lake Turkana Cultural Festival, is a celebration of indigenous culture held every spring in Turkana, northern Kenya. The festival is hosted by a number of indigenous communities adjacent to the lake, and is meant to promote peace, cultural exchange, and tourism. The El Molo people host the festival in Loiyangalani every June, and the Turkana people host the festival in Lodwar in April. The Tobong'u Lore is considered among the largest of cultural festivals in Kenya, and has become a venue for appearances by prominent Kenyan politicians.
The Yala River is a river of western Kenya, a tributary of Lake Victoria. It generally flows fast over a rocky bed through a wide valley before joining the Nzoia River to form the Yala Swamp on the border of Lake Victoria. The land along its course is mostly cultivated or used for grazing, with relatively few remnants of the original forest. Soil erosion is visible throughout the river basin, particularly in the lower parts. Projects are underway to exploit the river for hydroelectricity.
The Nabongo Cultural Centre and Shrine is a shrine and cultural centre dedicated to the Wanga Kingdom of the Luhya people in Kenya. The shrine contains the tombs of Wanga kings or Nabongo are buried, including the founder of Mumias, Nabongo Mumia. Locally known as Eshiembekho, the shrine is managed by the Luhya Council of Elders.
References
- ↑ Wajir District Development Plan, 1997-2001. Republic of Kenya, Office of the Vice-President and Ministry of Planning and National Development. 1997. p. 21. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
- ↑ Ipara, Hellen (December 2000). "Towards cultural tourism development around the Kakamega Forest Reserve, Kenya" (PDF). In John S. Akama; Kennedy I. Ondimy; Kibicho Wanjohi; Patricia Sterry; Debra Leighton; Peter Schofield (eds.). Proceedings of the ATLAS Africa International Conference December 2000, Mombasa, Kenya. Cultural tourism in Africa: strategies for the new millennium. pp. 95–108. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
- ↑ Wanyande, Peter (2002). Joseph Daniel Otiende. East African Educational Publishers. p. 60. ISBN 978-9966-25-156-5.