President Ruto directs establishment of a Ksh.500M annual scholarship programme to support minorities

Speaking during the international day for minority rights in State House on Thursday, President Ruto noted that the programme, in partnership with private players, will support children from indigent minority and marginalised communities to access both secondary and tertiary education.

Likewise, he noted that the Ministry of Education shall set aside Ksh.200 million annually as an Education Infrastructure Fund to construct, upgrade, and equip schools and middle-level colleges in minority and marginalised areas.

He also directed the Water, Roads, Health Ministries alongside with the Equalisation Fund to prioritise minority and marginalised areas to provide clean water, access roads, and health facilities to create better living conditions for these communities.

Preisdent Ruto stated that the initiative will be realised under the newly-launched National Policy on Ethnic Minorities, Indigenous and Marginalised Communities (2025-2035) which seeks to address challenges facing these communities across the nation.

The policy establishes a Minorities and Marginalised Communities Directorate as the central coordinating unit and provides for the creation of a National Council for Ethnic Minorities and Marginalised Communities through legislation.

"This guarantees a permanent, authoritative voice for minority concerns across government, with focal points in every ministry and county," Ruto noted.

He directed that the Minorities and Marginalised Communities Directorate shall be immediately established within the Office of the President to coordinate implementation across government.

Governors have also been directed to establish County Minority Inclusion Units and to domesticate this policy in their next County Integrated Development Plans.

He also elevated the Unit into a semiautonomous agency, with the legal and financial authority required to effectively coordinate, implement, and safeguard all matters concerning minority and marginalised communities in Kenya.

"The Attorney-General, in consultation with the Kenya Law Reform Commission, shall commence drafting the necessary legislation to establish the National Council and align existing laws with this policy," he noted.

President Ruto maintained that the move will mark a new era of inclusion, dignity, and shared progress in the nation, asserting that the minorities remain to be a central to Kenya's national identity and indispensable to its peace and prosperity.