NYERI, Kenya, Oct 14 — West Pokot has been ranked Kenya’s happiest county, beating forty-six other counties in a new survey by Timely Kenya that assessed public perceptions of devolution and county government performance.

📻 Breaking It Down

The county emerged first in the poll’s ranking of the five happiest counties, followed by Murang’a, Narok, Machakos and Trans Nzoia, according to the pollster’s fourth edition of the Devolution Scorecard , released on Wednesday marking four years after the 2022 General Election.

The survey, conducted between September 21 and October 12, 2026, assessed residents’ perceptions of county government performance across key devolved functions, including water, health, education, agriculture and social and economic empowerment.

West Pokot’s position at the top of the happiness ranking comes alongside its governor, Simon Kachapin, featuring among five county chiefs whom respondents identified as consistently present on the ground.

📌 What You Need to Know

The report, however, does not provide a separate happiness score for West Pokot or explain the specific factors that propelled the county to the top of the ranking.

Murang’a ranked second in the happiness index, followed by Narok, Machakos and Trans Nzoia.

The report also ranked counties according to whether residents felt devolution was working. Murang’a topped this category, followed by Kiambu, Machakos, Homa Bay and Bungoma.

Nationally, 55.9 per cent of respondents said devolution was working, while 39 per cent felt it was not delivering as expected.

Another three per cent were unsure, 1.1 per cent said they did not know, and one per cent said they did not care.

The findings point to generally positive perceptions of devolution among a majority of respondents, although a substantial proportion expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of county governments.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya