Marakwet District is a defunct

administrative district Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

in the former

Rift Valley Province Rift Valley Province ( sw, Mkoa wa Bonde la Ufa) of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the Kenyan general election, 2013. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces i ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Its capital town was

Kapsowar Kapsowar is a Town in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya. Prior to March 2013, it was located in the former Rift Valley Province. In 1994, Kapsowar became the headquarters of the former Marakwet District. Prior to this, the Marakwet and Keiyo tribes w ...

. The district had a population of 140.629. Local people are predominantly of the

Marakwet :''Marakwet is also a district in Kenya, see Marakwet District'' The Marakwet are one of the groups forming the ethnolinguistic Kalenjin community of Kenya, they speak the Markweta language. The Marakwet live in five territorial sections namely Al ...

tribe. The district was created in 1927 as ''Elgeyo/Marakwet District''. It was split into Marakwet and

Keiyo District Keiyo District (also known as ''Elgeyo district'' or Elgeiyo) is a defunct administrative district in the former Rift Valley Province of Kenya. The district was formed in 1994, when ''Elgeyo/Marakwet-District'' was split into two - the other half wa ...

s in 1994. In 2010, the two districts were joined again to form

Elgeyo-Marakwet County Elgeyo-Marakwet County is one of Kenya's 47 counties. Elgeyo Marakwet County is located in the former Rift Valley Province. Its capital and largest town is Iten. It borders the counties of West Pokot to the north, Baringo County to the east, s ...

. Many famous Kenyan runners come from Marakwet, most notably

Moses Kiptanui Moses Kiptanui (born 1 October 1970) is a Kenyan middle and long distance athlete mostly famous for 3,000 m steeplechase in which he was the number one ranked athlete from 1991 to 1995 and three time IAAF World Champion. Kiptanui was al ...

Evans Rutto Evans Rutto (born 8 April 1978 in Marakwet District) is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who specialises in road running events. He made the fastest-ever marathon debut by winning the 2003 Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:05:50. He won the London M ...

Reuben Kosgei Reuben Seroney Kosgei (born 2 August 1979 in Kapcherop, Kenya), is a middle and long distance athlete mostly famous for 3000 m steeplechase in which he became the youngest ever winner of an Olympic gold medal in the event when at th ...

Ezekiel Kemboi Ezekiel Kemboi Cheboi (born 25 May 1982) is a Kenyan professional athlete, winner of the 3000 metres steeplechase at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the 2009 World Championships, the 2011 World Championships, the 2012 Summer Olympics, the 2013 W ...

and

Richard Chelimo Richard Chelimo (21 April 1972 – 15 August 2001) was a Kenyan long-distance runner, and a world record holder over 10,000 metres. However, he is best known as the silver medallist in the controversial 10,000m at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona ...

. The district has only one local authority, Marakwet county council. Its population is thus same as the district (140,629). The council and district has no population classified as urban (1999 census ). The Marakwet district headquarters was located at the hilly town of

. Other rural centres/towns are Chebiemit, Kapcherop, Cheptongei, Arroor, Chesongoch, Chesoi, Kipsaiya, Sisiya, Kapyego, Tot, Sangach, Kapchebau, Kakimiti, Meuno, Kamogo,

Tirap TIRAP is an adapter molecule associated with toll-like receptors. The innate immune system recognizes microbial pathogens through Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which identify pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Different TLRs recognize different ...

, and Embobut Mosop.

Administrative divisions

Constituencies

The district had two constituencies: *

Marakwet East Constituency Marakwet East is an electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of four constituencies of Elgeyo-Marakwet County Elgeyo-Marakwet County is one of Kenya's 47 counties. Elgeyo Marakwet County is located in the former Rift Valley Province. Its capi ...

Marakwet West Constituency Marakwet West is an Constituencies of Kenya, electoral constituency in Kenya. It is one of four constituencies of Elgeyo-Marakwet County. The constituency has six wards, all of which elect councillors for the Marakwet County Council. The constituen ...

References

Former districts of Kenya {{RiftValleyKE-geo-stub