Kenya’s statutory minimum wages rose by about 12% under the Regulation of Wages (General) (Amendment) Order 2026, Legal Notice 108. It was gazetted in late June 2026 but applies from 1 May 2026, so anyone paid below the new rates for May and June is owed arrears for those months. If you haven’t checked your lowest-paid staff since the order came out, start there.
Who the general order covers
The general order covers most workers outside agriculture: general labourers, cleaners, messengers, watchmen, drivers, shop staff, clerks and similar grades, each with its own rate. Farm workers are covered by a separate agricultural wages order with its own, lower, consolidated rates. Some sectors have their own orders or CBAs that set higher pay. Find the right instrument for each job before you look up a figure.
The three zones
The rate depends on where the employee works, not where the employer is registered.
| Zone in the order | General labourer, cleaner or messenger (KES a month) |
|---|---|
| Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret | 18,047.40 |
| Mavoko, Ruiru and Limuru | 16,650.95 |
| All other areas | 9,628.07 |
A night watchman in the five cities has a minimum of KES 20,133.72 a month. Other occupations have their own rates in the schedule, rising with skill. Use the minimum wage lookup for the rates we hold, and check the gazetted schedule for any occupation it doesn’t list.
Two mistakes recur. The first is grading by job title rather than by the work done: someone called an “office assistant” who cleans and runs errands is probably a messenger or cleaner in the order’s terms. The second is applying the “all other areas” rate to a site in a town that the order puts in the middle zone. Check the town against the order’s own list.
Monthly rates exclude housing
The monthly rates in the general order are basic pay. They don’t include housing. Section 31 of the Employment Act requires an employer either to provide reasonable housing at or near the workplace, or to pay enough on top of the wage for the employee to rent reasonable accommodation. The Regulation of Wages (General) Order puts a figure on that for workers covered by the order: an employee who isn’t housed is owed a housing allowance of 15% of the basic minimum wage, in addition to the basic rate.
So for a general labourer in Nairobi who isn’t housed:
| Item | KES |
|---|---|
| Basic minimum wage | 18,047.40 |
| Housing allowance, 15% | 2,707.11 |
| Minimum monthly pay | 20,754.51 |
Section 31(2) lets the housing element be built into the basic pay, so a single consolidated figure is lawful, provided the contract says so. In that case the test is simple: the consolidated wage must be at least 1.15 times the minimum, which is KES 20,754.51 here. If the contract doesn’t clearly say that pay includes housing, assume a court will read the whole figure as basic and treat the housing allowance as unpaid.
The daily and hourly rates in the order are a different case: they’re reported to include the housing element already. Confirm that against the schedule before you rely on it for casual rates.
Deductions come off the minimum, not on top of it
The minimum wage is a gross figure. Statutory deductions come off it in the normal way. For the Nairobi labourer above, on KES 20,754.51 gross:
| Item | KES |
|---|---|
| Gross pay | 20,754.51 |
| NSSF | 1,245.27 |
| SHIF | 570.75 |
| Housing Levy | 311.32 |
| PAYE | 0.00 |
| Net pay | 18,627.17 |
PAYE is nil because the tax on KES 18,627.17 of taxable pay is less than the KES 2,400 personal relief. A net figure below the minimum wage doesn’t mean the employee was underpaid. A gross figure below it does.
Other deductions, such as loans, are still limited by the two-thirds rule in s.19(3) of the Employment Act.
Checking a payslip
When an employee, a union or a labour officer asks whether someone is paid the minimum, work through this in order:
- Identify the occupation in the order’s terms and the zone where the person works.
- Compare basic pay with the minimum for that occupation and zone. Basic must be at least the minimum.
- If the employee isn’t housed, check that basic plus housing allowance is at least 1.15 times the minimum, or that a consolidated wage clearly includes housing and reaches the same figure.
- Leave out overtime, bonuses and reimbursements. The minimum is a basic rate, so these don’t make up a shortfall in basic pay.
- For pay periods from May 2026, check that the new rates were applied from 1 May, not from the month the payroll was updated.
If you find a shortfall, pay the arrears in an off-cycle run with PAYE worked correctly on them. See bonuses, overtime and arrears.
The figures here come from the order as published. This isn’t legal advice: if a minimum-wage claim has been made against you, check the gazetted schedule for the exact occupation and zone, and take advice.
Look up a rate in the minimum wage lookup.