County number 32, Nakuru County, has been chosen to host Kenya's 53rd Madaraka Day national celebrations on June 1st.
This will be the first time in Kenya's history that a national celebration event will be held outside the country's capital Nairobi, the seat of power.
Many may, therefore, ask why Nakuru was chosen over all the other 46 counties to host the first national celebration outside Nairobi.
Here is why.:
1. President Uhuru's promise.
The President promised last year that he was going to 'devolve' national celebrations from Nairobi to the counties starting 2016. Nakuru may just have been fortunate to be chosen as the first county to host the 'devolved' national celebrations.
2. Jubilee coalition was 'born' in Nakuru in the run-up to 2013 poll.
The coalition that steered Uhuru and Ruto to power was born at Afraha Stadium in Nakuru where the celebrations will be held. It, therefore, goes without saying that the county may hold some nostalgic moments for both the President and his deputy.
During his tour to the county on March this year, Uhuru was quoted as saying that Nakuru was 'close to his heart' noting that that is where their 'journey to unite Kenya started'.
3. Jubilee wants to show and affirm its authority in the Rift Valley region which is the home turf of Deputy President William Ruto. Many times critics have argued that Jubilee is losing popularity in a region considered a Jubilee stronghold. Jubilee may want to prove otherwise.
4. Nakuru is cosmopolitan in nature.
The county has a national representation where almost all of the 42 Kenyan tribes have a presence. Various constituencies in Nakuru, have since independence been represented in Parliament by MPs from various ethnicities. Some of the notable ones include Fred Kubai, Ochieng Oneko among others. Fred Kubai represented Nakuru East on a Kanu ticket in 1963 as Onekowon the Nakuru Town Constituency seat.
5. The county is treated by Jubilee coalition as the 'epitome of peace'.
Nakuru was among the hardest hit counties by the 2007/2008 post-election violence. However, this is where Uhuru and Ruto made the now popular announcement that 'never again should Kenya go to violence due to political competition'.
6. Nakuru was the first place Kenya's founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta visited after Kenya gained internal self-rule.
After he was released from detention, Kenyatta met the British white settlers and colonizers in Nakuru town where he sought to assure them that Kenya could exist as a multi-racial country.