On 16 July 2009, the province was sub-divided into three: Lower Eastern with
Machakos as headquarters, Central Eastern with
Embu as headquarters, and Upper Eastern with
Marsabit as headquarters; however, those changes never took effect due to the political wrangles in the Kenyan
coalition government at the time. The sub-division of provinces was carried out in seven
provinces of Kenya, excluding
Nairobi. As of March 2013 after the
Kenyan general election, 2013, the Eastern Province was subdivided into eight counties, namely: The province was principally inhabited by the
Meru,
Kamba,
Embu, and several
pastoralist communities. In 1979, its population was 2.7 million; in 1999, 4,631,779 (according to the 1999 census) and in 2009 the province would have had a population of 5,668,123. In terms of area, it was the second largest province at (140,698.6 km2) in Kenya. ==Geography==