President William Ruto has announced that village elders across the country will begin receiving a monthly stipend of Sh3,000 effective August 4, 2026.
This is even as the government moves to formally recognise and institutionalise their role in grassroots administration.
Ruto, speaking during a meeting with village elders at State House, Nairobi, on Tuesday, August 4, said the government had adopted a policy to recognise village elders under the Office of the President, adding that the move would provide them with specialised training to strengthen their administrative responsibilities.
"We now have a policy of the government to recognize village elders under the Office of the President. We have agreed that for every village elder to do his responsibility as a multipurpose leader in the grassroots, we shall also take you to training," said Ruto.
He added that the stipend is intended to motivate the elders, who have for decades served communities voluntarily by resolving disputes, mobilising residents and supporting government programmes.
"We have also agreed that beginning today, village elders will be paid a stipend every month of Sh3,000," he declared.
To safeguard the programme from changes in future administrations, the Head of State directed Interior Ministry to prepare a Sessional Paper that will be presented to Cabinet before being forwarded to Parliament for enactment into law.
He also challenged Members of Parliament to allocate funds in 2026/7 Financial Year to ensure every village elder is enrolled in the Social Health Authority (SHA).
"The leaders should go back to Parliament and find funds from the next budget to pay SHA for every village elder. The Interior CS should plan for a sessional paper to be forwarded to the Cabinet then to Parliament so that the coming government does not revert these gains," he noted.
Ruto also outlined plans to strengthen grassroots security through the re-establishment of the Administration Police (AP) presence in villages.
He revealed the government had accepted proposals to return AP officers to local communities to complement the work of chiefs and village elders in tackling insecurity.
"When I sent the Ministry of Interior, you proposed we return the Administration Police Unit. If we bring them back to villages we will deal with drug peddlers, illicit brew and troublemakers. The police in training will graduate in the next two months. The 10,000 officers will ensure every village has the Administration Police Unit to assist chiefs and improve security," he added.
Beyond security, President Ruto said the country's biggest challenge remains the high cost of living, which he attributed to the rising costs of healthcare, education and transport.
He maintained that sustainable economic growth, rather than political rhetoric, remains the solution.
"The biggest challenge we have as a nation is the cost of living, informed by the cost of health, education and transport. We cannot solve it using politics in rallies. We must have a plan to create more jobs and transform agriculture so that we reduce the cost of food," he said.
He credited village elders with supporting government efforts to register farmers, saying the country now has data on 7.2 million farmers, enabling better planning and increased agricultural productivity.
Ruto cited improvements in key agricultural sectors, noting that coffee prices had risen from about Sh50 per kilogram to between Sh120 and Sh150, subsidized fertilizer prices had fallen from Sh6,000 to Sh2,500 per bag, while payments to sugarcane farmers are now processed in less than a month.
The Head of State further appealed to the elders to intensify the registration of Kenyans under the Social Health Authority, saying about 60 per cent of the population has already enrolled.
"We have almost 60 per cent of the population registered on SHA. Kindly assist us to reach more people so that no one is left behind," he observed.
