Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc), the causal agent of bacterial leaf streak (BLS) is one of the most prevalent rice pathogens in lowland ecologies of Asia and Africa. In Africa, BLS has been reported in several countries, including Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, and more recently in Burundi, Uganda and Madagascar (Poulin et al. 2015). BLS can survive in crop debris from season to season or on infected seed, and may be transmitted through irrigation water or on seed (Xie and Mew 1998). In September 2016, we conducted a reconnaissance survey in Ahero rice growing area, Kisumu, Kenya. We observed water-soaked translucent lesions and yellow-brown streak symptoms on three popular rice varieties grown in Kisumu: Pishori, BW96 and Komboka, at the vegetative stage when the plants were about 20 cm tall. The field exhibited 30 to 50% incidence, and severity on infected plants ranged from 20 to 60%, based on IRRI standard evaluation system 2013 (IRRI 2013). We collected six rice leaf samples infected with BLS, and bacteria were isolated, from surfaced sterilized (with 70% ethanol) symptomatic leaf discs, by streak-plating bacterial cells released in sterile water on nutrient agar (NA). Yellow-pigmented Xanthomonas-like positive colonies, following colony PCR, were multiplied by re-streaking on Peptone sucrose agar (PSA) medium (sucrose 10 g, peptone 10 g, bacto agar 16 g, distilled water 1,000 ml), supplemented with three antibiotics, actidione 50 mg liter–1, cephalexin 40 mg liter–1, and kasugamycin 20 mg liter–1. PCR was used to amplify 691 bp DNA fragment used for identification of Xoc (Lang et al. 2010). Xoc strain BLS256 from the Philippines was used as a positive control. The expected DNA fragment corresponding to DNA gyrase subunit B (gyrB) gene was obtained from all isolates upon PCR amplification using the primers XgyrB1-F and XgyrB1-R (Poulin et al., 2014). Negative controls (distilled water as the template) did not show any band. Isolated DNA fragments were submitted to Bioneer (www.bioneer.com) for sequencing. Sequence analysis by BLAST search in the GenBank revealed 99% identity to the sequences of gyrB gene of strains CFBP2286, RS105, L8, BXOR1, BLS279 and B8-12 among others. Two isolates were subjected to pathogenicity test on 4-week-old rice cultivars, IR24 and Pishori. Bacterial cultures grown overnight on PSA medium were centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 5 min, washed and resuspended in sterile water at a concentration of A600 = 0.5, and used for pathogenicity tests in the greenhouse using the 5-week-old rice plants. Rice leaves syringe-infiltrated with bacterial cells showed water-soaked lesions with prominent yellow exudates, typical of BLS symptoms. Control plants infiltrated with sterile water remained symptomless. On re-isolation, typical colonies with Xoc morphology were observed, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. Partial nucleotide sequences (~670 bp) corresponding to gyrB gene from the two strains used for pathogenicity test (named KN_1 and KN_2) were submitted to GenBank (MF284713 and MF284714). The two isolates have also been deposited to Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, Cornell University, USA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Xoc in Kenya. Further work on pathogen collection is required to understand the genotypic and geographic distribution of BLS in Kenya.