Village elders will soon receive a monthly stipend of Sh3,000 for  village elders across the country if the government proposal will be approved parliament.

This emerged during the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, when Principal Secretary for Interior Dr Raymond Omollo appeared during scrutiny of the 2026/2027 budget estimates.

If approved, the programme will become the first structured government payment system for village elders, potentially reshaping Kenya’s local governance model and strengthening community-level service delivery.

Dr. Omollo told MPs that the programme is expected to benefit approximately 110,000 village elders nationwide, pending parliamentary approval of the policy framework and budgetary allocation.

“The conversation about village elders began in 2016 and the House actually gave directions to the ministry. It has taken almost 10 years to get us here,” said Dr. Omollo.

He added that the Ministry of Interior has already developed a policy and clear criteria for identifying eligible elders following extensive consultations and public participation.

“This will mark a significant policy shift aimed at formally recognising their long-standing but largely unpaid role in grassroots administration and community security,” he said.

The stipend, he said, would be restricted to those not already benefiting from other state support programmes, such as social protection funds for the elderly or community health promoter initiatives.

“Our expectation is that we will be giving a stipend of Sh3,000 to each village elder and the amount that has been provisioned for will be almost enough to take us through the whole year,” he explained.

Village elders have traditionally served as the lowest tier of informal governance in Kenya’s administrative structure, working alongside chiefs and assistant chiefs to resolve disputes, relay government information, and support security surveillance at the community level.

Despite their critical role, they have historically operated without formal remuneration, relying on goodwill and community recognition.

The proposed stipend has, therefore, been widely welcomed by lawmakers as a long-overdue reform.

However, Members of Parliament called for an upward revision of the amount, arguing that the compensation should reflect the workload and importance of the elders’ role.

Narok West MP and Committee Chair Gabriel Tongoyo said the proposal was a major milestone but suggested that the stipend be aligned with payments given to community health promoters.

“We had nothing before, but maybe we should have put them at par with the community health promoters,” said Tongoyo.

Teso North MP Oku Kaunya also questioned the administrative framework under which village elders would operate, urging the government to formally anchor them within the National Administration structure to avoid ambiguity in reporting lines.

“I hope they are anchored within the National Administration structure. If that is the case, then I would support the idea that they need to have an enhanced amount to Sh5,000, which would be reasonable,” said Kaunya.

While acknowledging that increasing the stipend to Sh5,000 would raise the annual cost to between Sh5.5 billion and Sh6 billion, Tongoyo said the proposal could still be pursued through discussions with the National Treasury and the Budget and Appropriations Committee.

“The President has already pronounced himself on this issue during a meeting with chiefs. It is a conversation we can still pick up if there is a way to enhance it to at least Sh5,000,” he said.

Lawmakers described the initiative as a historic step in formalising village-level governance support systems, noting that elders have for decades played a silent but crucial role in maintaining order, resolving conflicts, and strengthening the reach of national administration at the grassroots.

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