Mbale is a town in

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

. It is the capital and largest town of

Vihiga County Vihiga County is an administrative region in the former Western Province of Kenya whose headquarters are in Mbale, the largest town in the county. The county has a population of 554,622 (2009 census) and an area of 563 km2. Formally a dist ...

. It is also called ''Maragoli'', after the indigenous inhabitants of the area.

Location

The town is located on the Kisumu–Kakamega–Webuye–Kitale Road, approximately , north of

Kisumu Kisumu ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Kenya by population, third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa (census 2019). It is the third-largest city after Kampala and Mwanza in the Lake Victor ...

, and about , south of

Kakamega Kakamega is a town in western Kenya lying about 30 km north of the Equator. It is the headquarters of Kakamega County that has a population of 1,867,579 (2019 census). Kakamega is 52 km north of Kisumu, the tenth largest city in Ken ...

. The codinates of Mbale, Kenya are:0°04'54.0"N, 34°43'17.0"E (Latitude:0.081667; Longitude:34.721389).

Population

Mbale's population is estimated at about 60,000 people, of different races and ethnicities, which include the Luhya, Kikuyu, Kisii and Luo and Asians.

Overview

Mbale has five major hotels and four major bars that serve people from as far as

and

. Mbale has four major banks, namely

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

, Equity Bank,

Co-operative Bank Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking carr ...

and

KCB Bank Kenya Limited KCB Bank Kenya Limited is a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. It is licensed as a commercial bank, by the Central Bank of Kenya, the national banking regulator. The bank has also been running Agency banking mode ...

. It also has one Sacco bank, being Kakamega teachers Sacco society, which is yet to be officially launched but is functioning at the moment. Mbale has over a hundred small businesses such as shops, tailoring, bread distribution, cyber cafe services, healthcare services, construction, real estate, property mng and hotels. It is home to the annual

Maragoli Cultural Festival Held in Mbale town every 26 December, the Maragoli Cultural Festival was for a long time, in decades gone by, the biggest event of the year in the region - coming a day after Christmas: probably the biggest holiday in Kenya; and frequently attended ...

, which is held every 26 December.

Schools

The town has nearly a dozen primary schools, including ''Hambale Primary School'', ''Idavaga Muslim Primary School'', ''Shalom Academy'' and ''Mukuli Primary School''. The five secondary schools are ''Mbale High School'', ''St. Clares Maragoli Secondary School'', ''Kegoye Friends' Secondary School'' and ''Mbihi Secondary School''. The former Vihiga County Governor,

Moses Akaranga Reverend Moses Akaranga is a Kenyan politician who served as the first governor of Vihiga county having been defeated by Dr. Wilberforce Ottichilo in August 2017. He is also former Member of parliament for Sabatia constituency, having defeat ...

is an alumnus of Mbale High School.

Health

Mbale, Kenya is home to two hospitals; (a) ''Mbale Rural Provincial Health & Training Centre'', and (b) ''Vihiga District Hospital''

Religion

There are many places of worship in the town, including The Salvation Army Church nglican,

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United State ...

African Israel Church Nineveh The African Israel Church Nineveh is one of the largest African Initiated Churches in Kenya. The Church was founded by David Zakayo Kivuli, who belonged to a small clan which though integrated into Bantu peoples, Bantu society was Nilotic in origin ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and others.

References

External links

Maragoli Cultural Festival
As of 26 December 2011. {{coord, 00, 04, 54, N, 34, 43, 17, E, display=title, region:KE_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Vihiga County Populated places in Kenya Cities in the Great Rift Valley County capitals in Kenya