Ruto Orders Formation of Ksh500 Billion Special Scholarship Program

President William Ruto has ordered the immediate establishment of a Ksh500 billion national scholarship program. The program, which will be implemented under the Executive Office of the President, targets children from indigenous minorities and marginalised communities.

Speaking during the International Minorities Rights Day commemoration at State House, Nairobi, President Ruto said the scholarship programme is among the key interventions aimed at ensuring proposals under the newly launched National Policy on Ethnic Minorities and Marginalised Communities 2025-2035 are implemented.

The two instruments are intended to provide a legal, policy, and institutional framework for the protection of minority and marginalised groups, in line with Article 56 of the Constitution of Kenya.

“This policy fulfills the commitment made in the Kenya-Kwanzaa Alliance manifesto and the task force announced in 2023. It provides the policy, legal, and institutional foundation required to operationalize Article 56 of our Constitution,” the President said.

President Ruto said the policy framework addresses multiple areas affecting minority communities, particularly those hardest hit by climate change.

He noted that it proposes the allocation of at least 30 per cent of county climate funds to community-led adaptation initiatives, the safeguarding of pastoral mobility corridors, and the integration of indigenous knowledge into national climate action.

Ruto orders formation of Ksh500 billion scholarship program

The Head of State added that the framework also expands access to justice by providing for the establishment of mobile courts and legal aid centres in remote areas, training justice sector actors on minority rights, integrating traditional conflict resolution mechanisms into the national peace architecture, recruiting security personnel from local communities, and strengthening community-led disarmament efforts.

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In turn, he said the government would immediately begin implementing measures to translate the policy into action.

He announced the establishment of a Ksh500 billion national minority scholarship programme, to be implemented in partnership with the private sector and development partners, targeting learners from indigenous minorities and marginalised communities at secondary and tertiary levels.

“To translate this policy from paper into lived reality, the following measures shall be implemented with immediate effect,” Ruto said, before outlining the first set of actions.

“The immediate establishment of a Ksh500 billion national minority scholarship program to be implemented in partnership with private sector players and development partners. The program will support children from indigenous minorities and marginalized communities to access both secondary and tertiary education, ensuring that poverty is no longer a barrier to talent.”

President Ruto also said the government, working with the private sector and development partners, will pay Social Health Authority (SHA) contributions for at least 200,000 vulnerable individuals from minority and marginalised communities to guarantee access to quality and affordable healthcare.

Strengthening social protection and coordination for minorities

At the same time, he said additional measures would also be implemented to strengthen social protection and institutional coordination for minority and marginalised communities.

The President said the State Department for Social Protection will urgently register and enroll all eligible families from minority and marginalised communities into existing cash transfer programmes to improve household resilience and dignity.

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Further, Ruto announced that the Minority and Marginalized Affairs Unit within the Office of the President would be elevated into a semi-autonomous agency with legal and financial authority to coordinate and safeguard all matters concerning minority and marginalised communities.

“The Minorities and Marginalized Communities Directorate shall immediately establish within the Executive Office of the President, be there to coordinate and implement all the interventions across government,” Ruto said.

The President further directed the Attorney General, in consultation with the Kenya Law Reform Commission, to begin drafting legislation to establish a National Council of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples and to align existing laws with the policy.

According to him, all Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries will be required to integrate the policy into their strategic plans and budget estimates for the 2026–2027 financial year.

President Ruto also urged County Governors to establish County Minority Inclusion Units and to domesticate the policy in their following County Integrated Development Plans.

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