The county was created by the 2010 Constitution of Kenya as a new unit of the devolved government.

The North Eastern Province was carved out of the then Northern Frontier District (NFD) prior to independence.

[2] Nathif Jama Adam was elected as the pioneer governor of Garissa in March 2013.

[12][13] The current speaker of the County Assembly is Abdi Idle Gure.

[14] The list below shows all the wards of the county and the current elected MCA for each Ward:[15] Garissa county had a total population of 841,353 persons of which 458,975 were males, 382,344 females and 34 intersex person.

[22] The main crops grown are maize, greengrams, sorghum, rice, cowpeas, bananas, mangoes, pawpaw, water melon, tomatoes, capsicum and onions.

cattle (boran), goats (galla), sheep (black headed Persian) and camel (dromedary one humped) are kept as the main livestock for producing key products of meat, milk, hides and skins.