The government has unveiled plans to formally recognise village elders through a national policy framework that will define their responsibilities and strengthen their role in grassroots administration, as part of wider reforms aimed at improving governance, security and service delivery across the country.
The proposed framework will establish a formal link between village elders and the national government while assigning them responsibilities in key areas such as climate action, public health awareness, agriculture, data collection and community security. The reforms will also introduce digital literacy and leadership training for village elders, increase operational funding for chiefs and assistant chiefs, expand security deployments and promote closer collaboration with traditional councils of elders.
Speaking during an engagement forum with village elders at State House on Tuesday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the policy had been developed to provide structured recognition for village elders, who already play an important role in community administration despite operating without a national framework.
"We have developed policy frameworks to formally recognise village elders as part of the government's plan to support them. The framework clearly outlines the responsibilities of village elders, including climate action, public health awareness, data collection, agriculture and community intelligence. It also establishes a structured recognition system that creates a formal link between the national government and village administration."
Murkomen said the ministry had also launched a nationwide exercise to register and verify all villages in Kenya to strengthen administrative structures at the grassroots.
"We are registering and verifying all villages across the country. Kenya has 106,000 villages and 9,700 sub-locations, and the village elders gathered here today represent all those sub-locations. This exercise will strengthen the government's administrative structures at the grassroots level."
The Cabinet Secretary said the reforms come alongside efforts to strengthen the National Government Administration through additional resources, training and promotions for local administrators.
He said the training programme for chiefs and assistant chiefs had been completed, while promotions for the officers were already underway. At the same time, the government has increased operational funding for both cadres to improve service delivery.
"The training programme for chiefs and assistant chiefs has been completed, and we held a graduation ceremony. The promotion of chiefs is also ongoing. Following your directive on the Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) for chiefs and assistant chiefs, the allocation for assistant chiefs will increase from Sh15,000 to Sh30,000 in this financial year's budget, while the allocation for chiefs will rise from Sh30,000 to Sh50,000," Murkomen stated.
The Interior CS also announced that village elders will undergo digital literacy and leadership training to improve communication with government agencies and enhance the delivery of services within communities.
On security, Murkomen said the government had continued strengthening policing at the sub-county level through the deployment of officers from the National Government Administration Police Unit (NGAPU).
"So far, 16 sub-counties have been assigned National Government Administration Police Unit (NGAPU) officers, with a total of 6,000 officers deployed."
He added that the government was also improving the working conditions of chiefs and assistant chiefs by decentralising the procurement of uniforms and equipping them with digital devices to support their work.
Murkomen further urged county governments to deepen their engagement with traditional councils of elders, calling on the Council of Governors to ensure the councils receive formal recognition and are incorporated into cultural programmes supported by county administrations through the Ministry of Culture.
The reforms are expected to strengthen coordination between village administrations and the national government while enhancing governance, security and public service delivery at the grassroots level.