Mandera County is a county in the former North Eastern Province of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Mandera. The county is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, by Somalia to the east and by Wajir County to the southwest. According to the 2019 census, the county has a population of 867,457 and an area of 25,939.8 km². The main economic activity in the county is pastoralism, while others include cross-border trade with Ethiopia, artisanal mining, beekeeping and agriculture along the Dawa River.
Geography
The county mostly consists of rocky hills, located on a plain that rises from 400m in altitude near El Wak, to 970m near the Ethiopian border. The seasonal Dawa River forms the border between Mandera County and Ethiopia, for about 150 km from the northernmost point of the county up to the Somali border. The river's flood plains are used for cultivating crops. Most of the county has a semi-arid climate.
Climatic Conditions
County has a temperature range between 24C – 42C. Rainfall is very low and unreliable with annual average of 91.7mm annually. Long rains normally occur in April and May averaging 69.1mm while short rains in October and November averaging 122mm.
Demographics
The county has a total population of 867,457 of which 434,976 are males, 432,444 females and 37 intersex persons. There are 125,763 household with an average household size of 6.9 persons per household and a population density 33 people per square kilometre.
Population
Administrative and Political Units
Administrative Units
There are 7 sub counties, 22 divisions, 97 locations and 141 sub-locations.
It has 6 constituencies and 30 county assembly wards.
Mandera Constituency
West Banisa Constituency
Mandera East Constituency
Lafey Constituency
Mandera South Constituency
Mandera North Constituency
Political Leadership
is the Governor serving his last term in office after being elected twice 2013, 2017 and his deputy is Mohamed Ahmed. is the Senator and he replaced Billow Kerow who was the first elected senator. is the second elected women representative won against the Fathia Mahbuub who was the first women representative for the county. For Mandera County, the County Executive Committee comprises of:-
There is a total of 83 health facilities in the county and 150 health personnel of different cadre. HIV prevalence is at 1.8% below the national 5.3%.
Transport and Communication
The county is covered by 1,884.5 Km of road network. of this 1,390 km is covered by earth surface, 494.5 km is murram surface. There are 13 cyber cafes, 5 post offices installed letter boxes, 1150 rented letter boxes and 1100 rented letter boxes, 50 vacant letter boxes
Trade and Commerce
There are 32 trading centres, 127 licensed retail traders, 212 licensed hawkers and 10petrol stations.
Urban Centre
2009 Population
Mandera
57,692
El Wak
24,368
Rhamu
24,037
Takaba
21,474
County subdivisions
As of 2019, Mandera County is divided into 7 sub-counties: