Makueni County is a county in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Wote. The county has a population of 987,653. The county lies between Latitude 1o 35 ́ and 32 00 ́ South and Longitude 37o10 ́ and 38o 30 ́ east. It borders Machakos to the North, Kitui to the East, Taita Taveta to the South and Kajiado to the West and covers an area of 8,008.9 km2.
Physical and Topical Features
The county has a number of prominent features in including volcanic Chyullu hills which lie along the South West border of the county Mbooni hills in Mbooni sub county and Kilungu and Iuani hills in Kaiti sub county, Makongo forest and scenic view, Makuli forest and Nzaui hill.
Climatic Conditions
The county experience semi-arid climatic conditions with an average temperature range between 15C – 26C and Annual rainfall ranges between 250mm to 400mm per annum on the lower regions of the county and the higher region receives rainfall ranging from 800mm to 900mm.
Demographics
The county has a total population of 459,785 of which 243,548 are males, 216,219 females and 18 intersex persons. There are 77,495 household with an average household size of 5.8 persons per household and a population density 6 people per square kilometre.
Administrative and Political Units
Administrative Units
There are 6 sub counties, 16 divisions, 63 locations and 127 sub-locations.
Sub-Counties
Makueni
Kaiti
Kilome
Kibwezi East
Kibwezi West
Mbooni
Political Units
It has 6 constituencies and 30 county assembly wards and 60 sub-wards.
Makueni constituency
Mbooni constituency
Kibwezi East constituency
Kibwezi West constituency
Kaiti constituency
Kilome constituency
Political Leadership
Kivutha Kibwana is the Governor and serving his last in office after being elected in 2013 and 2017 general elections. He is also the chairman of legal and human rights committee under council of governors. His deputy is Adelina Ndeto Mwau. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr is the Senator and has been senator since 2013. Rose Museo Mumo is the first elected women representative and was re-elected in 2017 general elections. For Makueni County, the County Executive Committee comprises:-
Hon.Daniel Kitonga Maanzo of Wiper democratic Movement Kenya Member of Parliament Makueni Constituency.
Hon.Kimilu, Joshua Kivinda of Wiper democratic Movement Kenya Member of Parliament Kaiti Constituency.
Hon.Nzambia, Thuddeus Kithua of Wiper democratic Movement Kenya Member of Parliament Kilome Constituency.
Hon.Michael Manthi Kisoi of Wiper democratic Movement KenyaMember of Parliament Mbooni Constituency.
Education
There are 78 ECD centres 997 primary schools and 375 secondary schools. The county has also 3 teachers training colleges, 37 Youth Polytechnics, 231 adult training institutions, 2 technical training institutions, 3 university campuses.
Health
There is a total of 156 health facilities, 726 hospital beds and 1261 cots in the county. County has 815 health personnel of different cadre. HIV prevalence rate is 5.1% in 2017.
Transport and Communication
There is one air strip and 8 railway lines with total coverage of 140 km. The county is covered by 7670 Km of road network. of this 6,776 km is covered by earth surface, 706 km is murram surface and 188 km of surface is covered by Bitumen. There are twenty post office with 4,850 installed letter boxes, 3,302 rented letter boxes, 1,548 vacant letter boxes and 31 licences stamp vendors.
Trade and Commerce
There are 420 trading centres, 17,390 registered businesses, 153 banking services(including agents& insurance, 882 mobile service providers and 382 agro-vets, chemists& pharmacies.
- The campus is located at Soi Plaza building, 2nd floor, above Equity Bank in Wote Town, the headquarters of Makueni County, and about 140 km from Kitui main campus. The campus began its operations in March, 2012. Currently, the campus has a student population of 315 who are taking classes in different regular, part-time and institutional-based programmes.
