Inside Ruto's plan to use village elders for 2027 campaign

President William Ruto host more than 10,000 village elders at State house, Nairobi. [File, Standard]

The move by President William Ruto to onboard more than 106,000 village elders into the National Government Administration system a year to the general election has been widely interpreted as a campaign strategy.

The Village elders, who work hand in hand with Nyumba Kumi community policing clusters, who are 210,000 across the country, as well as grassroots peace committees, ensure that the government is appraised of what goes on at the family unit.

The village elders have been used by the government to communicate government policies, mobilize communities for vaccination, population census and voter registration.

They also support school enrolment, drought relief and disaster response; advance community policing; and identify vulnerable households for government assistance.

As a way of enticing them, the President said the government had formally recognized their role by introducing financial support and additional resources to help them execute their duties more effectively.

He said the elders would receive a monthly stipend of Sh3000, noting that the payment should not be viewed as a reward for patriotism, but as recognition of the services they provide in communities.

"As we entrust you with greater responsibility, the government will also stand with you. Beginning this month, every village elder will receive a monthly stipend of Sh3,000," President Ruto said.

Furthermore, the President announced that village elders will receive smartphones to improve communication, saying the funds for the phones would be allocated in the National Budget to purchase the devices for village elders.

He added that the elders will undergo training to strengthen their skills in administration and improve their service to residents.

President Ruto also announced that the National Treasury would provide funding for medical insurance for village elders and their families under the Social Health Authority (SHA).

According to Ruto, the elders will support the conversation on the National Development Charter he proposed last week, saying it should be people-driven, citizen-centred and focused on a better future for Kenya.

"We call on leaders at the grassroots to champion the national conversation on the National Development Charter and to ensure the outcome is people-driven, citizen-centred and future-focused," he said

This conversation, President Ruto explained, cannot be for the Government alone but for all sections of society.

"It must reach every county, every ward, every village and every household," he said.

The President also directed the Ministry of Interior to prepare a Sessional Paper to be presented to Cabinet and Parliament before December to create a legal framework protecting the new measures.

Simultaneously, the President said chiefs will be receiving Sh50,000 and assistant chiefs Sh30000 annually while their assistants will have Sh30,000 in their favor to facilitate their functions.

 Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi appealed to the elders to campaign for Ruto’s re-election, saying, "I ask elders to help President Ruto win the next election by a landslide because his development record speaks for itself," he said.

Ruto’s decision to onboard the village elders comes eight months after he directed the establishment of a National Government Administrative Police Unit attached to chiefs to enhance security in rural areas and protect local administrators from increasing attacks by criminals.

He said the unit would comprise of 1860 police officers who would work under the command of chiefs.

 “The unit, to begin with 1860 police officers deployed, will work alongside the chiefs at the grassroots level to maintain law and order,’ he said.

To date, Ruto’s directive is yet to be operationalised, with chiefs saying their superiors went mum about the matter.

Observers and critics question the timing and optics, warning that utilizing state platforms and extending financial incentives to massive groups of grassroots leaders risks blurring the line between official state action and campaign-style mobilisation.

According to Johnson Wanyonyi, a security expert and political analyst, Ruto was only using State resources to advance his personal political ambitions, saying it was against the law to turn civil servants into campaigners.

“The President has been in office for the last four years; he could not have woken up and seen the essence of onboarding the village elders into the National Government Administration system. The remarks by Mudavadi urging the elders to be Ruto’s campaigners are the only reason why they had been invited to State House.

According to Joseph Muchunu, a political commentator, President Ruto’s actions amounted to buying loyalty to senior citizens for the purposing of wining next year’s general election.

“This is buying loyalty of a few senior citizens while leaving millions behind; promising stipends and vague gadgets like what chiefs were promised a while back won’t change anything,’ he said.

The use of chiefs and assistant chiefs to manage politics has been rampant in Kenya, and the issue found itself in the Presidential petition of 2017 when the Opposition accused former President Uhuru Kenyatta of mobilising national administrative officers, specifically local chiefs and assistant chiefs, as state agents to campaign, track voter turnout, and secure support for the Jubilee Party.

The late ODM leader Raila Odinga, in his affidavit, said chiefs acted as grassroots barometers for political sentiment and reported voting patterns back to state networks.

Chiefs were instructed to form groups known as Cell 30, which had 30 people in every polling station, to mobilise and facilitate transport for the eldery and the sick from their homes and hospitals to the polling stations.

They were also tasked with identifying a voter who had not turned up and to look for them in their homes to ensure huge voter turnout. They were given a budget of Sh2500 for each person to ensure over 80 per cent voter turn out.

In 2022, President Ruto, then Deputy President, called out Uhuru for allegedly using the chiefs and their assistants to mobilise voters to vote for Raila.

He urged the local administrators not to be intimidated or coerced to interfere with delivering free, fair and credible elections.

“I am asking all public servants and the provincial administration in the country not to accept being coerced or intimidated into supporting the government project in the name of Raila Odinga. Your jobs are well secured. No government is going to fire you. Nobody should sell fear to you,” said Ruto.

He added, “You must not accept illegal orders; you must not be coerced or forced to participate in one way or another to manipulate or undermine this election and to cause havoc and conflict amongst Kenyans.”