Lamu County is one of the 47 counties in the Republic of Kenya that were established under the constitution of Kenya 2010.Lamu County is located in the Northern Coast of Kenya. It borders Tana River County in the southwest, Garissa County to the north, Republic of Somalia to the northeast and the Indian Ocean to the South. It lies 1° 40’ and 2° 30’ south and longitude 40° 15’ and 40° 38’ east. The county has a land surface of 6,273.1 km that include the mainland and over 65 islands that form the Lamu Archipelago. The total length of the coastline is 130 km while land water mass area stands at 308 km.
The Lamu County Government is charged with the responsibility of providing a variety of services to residents within its jurisdiction area. These include functions that have been devolved under part two of the fourth Schedule of the Constitution.
The county has 2 constituencies namely Lamu West and Lamu East. These two also consist of the two districts referred to as the sub-counties in Lamu County. Lamu West has Amu Mkomani, Shela, Hindi, Mkunumbi, Hongwe, Bahari and Witu Divisions while Lamu East has Faza, Basuba and Kiunga divisions. There are 10 wards, 23 locations, and 38 sub-locations in the county.
It has the an estimated population of about 143,920.The main economic activities in the county include crop production, livestock production, fisheries, tourism and mining, most notably quarrying.
The Lamu County, in execution of responsibilities and functions bestowed upon it by the Constitution has been divided into two arms as follows:
- The Legislative Arm or the County Assembly headed by the Speaker
- The Executive Arm led by the Governor
The Lamu County Assembly:
The Speaker is the head of the legislature and presides over the plenary sittings of the County Assembly. The legislative arm of the County is responsible for legislation, oversight and representation. The legislature comprises of elected and nominated Members of the County Assembly who perform their legislative, oversight and representation function through the organs of the County Assembly namely the plenary and the various committees of the Assembly.