Eldoret Moves Closer To Being Declared City

The Eldoret Municipal Board has set in motion a process that will soon see Eldoret town elevated to city status.

Eldoret Municipal Manager Tito Koiyet says they have already approved plans for the town to be declared a city and a committee set up to look at thresholds that need to be met for the status as per the Urban Areas and Cities Act 2014.

“We have already met a majority of the thresholds but the committee will just have to make sure that all aspects are in place,” Koiyet said, in an exclusive interview with Uasin Gishu News.

The Committee formed by the Eldoret Municipal Board will now draft a report that will be forwarded to the Uasin Gishu County Executive Committee for consideration.

“If the County Executive under the leadership of Governor Mandago agrees with the report, an ad-hoc committee will be formed to review the report after which it will be tabled to the County Assembly for approval,” said the Eldoret Municipal Manager.

From the County Assembly, it will now be a matter of the Senate to approve the elevation of Eldoret town into a city status.

One of the requirements for a town to be declared a city is a population – with a minimum set at 250,000 people. This is a threshold that Eldoret town has already met.

As per the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Eldoret was ranked the fifth most populated urban area in the country after Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, and Ruiru with a population of over 475,716 people.

“By all aspects, we are a city, only that we have to follow the law to be officially be elevated. But as it stands now, we have 99% of what is required to be a city,” said the Eldoret Municipal Manager.