Eldoret elevated to Metropolitan Archdiocese as Pope appoints Obanyi first Archbishop

ELDORET, Kenya, Nov 14 – Pope Leo XIV has elevated Eldoret to a Metropolitan Archdiocese and appointed Kakamega Bishop Joseph Obanyi Sagwe as its first Metropolitan Archbishop in a major reorganisation of the Catholic Church’s hierarchy in Kenya. The announcement was made on Saturday through an official notification addressed to Kenyan bishops by the Chargé d’Affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in Kenya.

The newly established Metropolitan Province of Eldoret will comprise the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Eldoret and four suffragan dioceses – Lodwar, Kapsabet, Kitale and Kericho. Bishop Obanyi, who previously served as Apostolic Administrator of Eldoret, takes over leadership of the new ecclesiastical province following the appointment of the Eldoret Bishop Dominic Kimengich as Coadjutor Archbishop of Mombasa.

His elevation places him at the head of the new Metropolitan Archdiocese, with responsibility for its pastoral leadership and fostering communion among the four suffragan dioceses. New ecclesiastical province The establishment of the Metropolitan Province of Eldoret brings together dioceses that previously fell under two different metropolitan provinces.

Lodwar, Kapsabet and Kitale were suffragan dioceses of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kisumu, while Kericho fell under the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Nairobi. The new arrangement brings the four dioceses under Eldoret, strengthening pastoral coordination and collaboration across the region. The Diocese of Eldoret traces its origins to June 29, 1953, when the Apostolic Prefecture of Eldoret was established from territory previously under the Diocese of Kisumu.

It was elevated to a diocese in October 1959 and subsequently became a suffragan see of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kisumu. The four dioceses joining the new province were established at different times as the Catholic Church expanded its missionary and pastoral presence. Lodwar was established in 1968, Kitale in 1998, Kericho in 1995 and Kapsabet in 2025.

Obanyi’s episcopal journey Archbishop Joseph Obanyi Sagwe was born in 1967 in Kebiro, within the Diocese of Kisii. He studied philosophy at St Augustine Major Seminary in Mabanga between 1990 and 1991 before proceeding to St Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Nairobi, where he studied theology from 1992 to 1995. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Kisii on October 25, 1996, and served as a parish vicar and Diocesan Coordinator for Pastoral Care before pursuing further studies at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome between 1999 and 2004.

Upon returning to Kenya, he was appointed Parish Priest of St Charles Lwanga Cathedral Parish in Kisii in 2004 and later served as Vicar General of the Diocese of Kisii. On December 5, 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Kakamega, succeeding the late Bishop Philip Sulumeti. He was ordained bishop on March 7, 2015, at Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega.

Between 2018 and 2022, he also served as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Bungoma. His appointment as the first Metropolitan Archbishop of Eldoret marks a new chapter in his episcopal ministry and the Catholic Church’s administration in western and north-western Kenya.