Vihiga

Vihiga is a town in Kenya located on the eastern side of the Kakamega Forest.

Geography

The town is along the road between Kisumu and Kakamega, and only five kilometres north of the equator. Vihiga bears the same name as its county, Vihiga County. Vihiga municipality has a population of 118,696 (2009 census).

Vihiga municipality has six wards; two of them (Central Maragoli and Wamuluma) belong to Vihiga Constituency while the remaining four wards (Chavakali, Izawa, Lyaduywa and North Maragoli) are part of the Sabatia Constituency. In the 2002 general elections, all six civic seats were won by the National Rainbow Coalition.

Demographics

Maragoli are the dominant ethnic group in the area and the town is also known as Maragoli. Tiriki, Idakho and Banyore are other ethnic groups in this locale. As a county, Vihiga has its administrative headquarters in Mbale township, located within the Vihiga municipality. Vihiga is also a name of one of its divisions. Other divisions include Sabatia, Hamisi, Lwanda and Emuhaya. The people living in Vihiga primarily identify themselves as "Maragoli" and speak a language called Maragoli. This language is quite distinct from other Luhya ethnic groups and was the first Luhya language that was used to translate the Bible. The majority of the Maragoli people were primarily converted into the Quaker denomination of Christians, which is practiced to this day.

Vihiga County

Vihiga County is an administrative region in the former Western Province of Kenya whose headquarters is at vihiga, the largest town in the county. The county has a population of 554,622 (2009 census) and an area of 563 km². Vihiga County was split from Kakamega County in 1990.

Local authorities

Administrative divisions

Constituencies

The district has five constituencies:

References

External links

Coordinates: 0°4′N 34°40′E / 0.067°N 34.667°E / 0.067; 34.667

William Ruto

William Samoei arap Ruto (born 21 December 1966) is a Kenyan politician who has been Deputy President of Kenya since 2013. He served as the Acting President of Kenya between 5 and 8 October 2014 while President Uhuru Kenyatta was away at the Hague. He previously served in various ministerial positions including the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Higher Education. He was Secretary General of KANU, the former ruling political party, and MP for Eldoret North Constituency between December 1997 and January 2013. He won the seat in the 1997 Kenyan election after defeating Reuben Chesire. He was appointed to the position of Assistant Minister in the Office of the President by President Daniel arap Moi in 1998. He was promoted to be Minister for Home Affairs in August 2002. He also previously served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reform in the 9th Parliament.

On 4 March 2013, he was elected as Deputy President alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta. They won on a Jubilee Coalition ticket.

NASA

Coordinates: 38°52′59″N 77°0′59″W / 38.88306°N 77.01639°W / 38.88306; -77.01639

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the Space Launch System and Commercial Crew vehicles. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program (LSP) which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches.

Vice president

A vice president (in British English: vice-president for governments and director for businesses) is an officer in government or business who is below a president (managing director) in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning "in place of". In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president. In everyday speech, the abbreviation VP can be used.

In government

In government, a vice-president is a person whose primary responsibility is to act in place of the president on the event of the president's death, resignation or incapacity. Vice presidents are either elected jointly with the president as their running mate, or more rarely, appointed independently after the president's election.

Most governments with vice presidents have one person in this role at any time, although in some countries there are two or more vice-presidents. If the president is not present, dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to fulfill their duties, the vice president will generally serve as president. In many presidential systems, the vice president does not wield much day-to-day political power, but is still considered an important member of the cabinet. Several vice presidents in the Americas held the position of President of the Senate; this is the case, for example, in Argentina, the United States, and Uruguay. The vice president sometimes assumes some of the ceremonial duties of the president, such as attending functions and events that the actual president may be too busy to attend; the Vice President of the United States, for example, often attends funerals of world leaders on behalf of the president.