# Public Holidays Kenya 2027: HR Calendar > Kenya’s 2027 public holiday calendar for employers, including election day, Sunday substitutions, pending Eid dates and holiday-work pay rules. Original page: https://cazini.co.ke/guides/public-holidays-kenya-2027 Updated: 2026-11-15 · Cazini (Paul Omondi) Kenya’s 2027 public holidays include the statutory calendar dates below, the following Mondays where holidays fall on Sunday, and the General Election scheduled for Tuesday, 10 August. Employers should preload these dates, while treating election day as subject to any lawful change and keeping religious dates requiring official confirmation pending. Public-holiday work attracts twice the normal hourly rate for employees covered by the Regulation of Wages (General) Order, but the applicable wage order, contract and collective agreement must be checked. ## Kenya Public Holidays Calendar for 2027 This is an operational calendar, not a claim that every date has been individually gazetted. The Public Holidays Act establishes annual holidays and Sunday substitution; a separate Gazette notice can add or substitute a holiday. | Date | Day | Holiday | Basis or status | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 January 2027 | Friday | New Year’s Day | Annual statutory holiday | | 26 March 2027 | Friday | Good Friday | Computable annual holiday | | 29 March 2027 | Monday | Easter Monday | Computable annual holiday | | 1 May 2027 | Saturday | Labour Day | Annual statutory holiday | | 1 June 2027 | Tuesday | Madaraka Day | Annual statutory holiday | | 10 August 2027 | Tuesday | General Election | IEBC-published date; subject to lawful change | | 10 October 2027 | Sunday | Mazingira Day | Annual statutory holiday | | 11 October 2027 | Monday | Day following Mazingira Day | Sunday substitution | | 20 October 2027 | Wednesday | Mashujaa Day | Annual statutory holiday | | 12 December 2027 | Sunday | Jamhuri Day | Annual statutory holiday | | 13 December 2027 | Monday | Day following Jamhuri Day | Sunday substitution | | 25 December 2027 | Saturday | Christmas Day | Annual statutory holiday | | 26 December 2027 | Sunday | Boxing Day | Annual statutory holiday | | 27 December 2027 | Monday | Day following Boxing Day | Sunday substitution | Retain both the Sunday holiday and the following Monday in shift and payroll records. Moving the label from Sunday to Monday would obscure the original holiday for employees rostered on Sunday. Use **Mazingira Day** for 10 October. The consolidated Public Holidays Act includes that name following the 2024 amendment; older ministry calendars using Huduma Day or Utamaduni Day should not determine your HR labels. ### Saturday Holidays Do Not Automatically Move The statutory rule addresses Sunday holidays, not every weekend holiday. Labour Day and Christmas Day fall on Saturdays in 2027 and do not automatically generate replacement Mondays. Monday, 27 December is a holiday because Boxing Day falls on Sunday, not because Christmas falls on Saturday. That distinction matters when explaining entitlements to staff whose normal working week excludes weekends. ## Election Day and Dates Still to Be Added ### General Election and Presidential Swearing-In IEBC has published Tuesday, 10 August 2027 as the General Election date. The Public Holidays Act makes the general-election day following dissolution of Parliament a public holiday, so include it in the employer calendar, subject to any lawful change. Prepare a continuity roster rather than assuming ordinary staffing. Identify operations that need coverage, establish the applicable holiday-work terms and communicate assignments before finalising the roster. The day a President-elect is sworn in is also a statutory public holiday. Do not invent an annual-calendar date for it: the date depends on the eventual assumption-of-office timetable. Keep it on your pending-events register. ### Eid and Faith-Specific Holidays Do not publish tentative Idd-ul-Fitr or Idd-ul-Azha dates as final nationwide holidays without the applicable official notice. The research supporting this calendar does not establish final 2027 nationwide dates for them. The Act distinguishes nationwide holidays from additional religious holidays. Under section 2, Part II holidays apply additionally to persons belonging to the Islamic faith, while Part III holidays apply additionally to persons belonging to the Hindu faith. A Diwali entry therefore needs an entitlement check, not an automatic all-staff closure assumption. Separate the employee’s statutory religious entitlement from any later nationwide or local declaration. The Cabinet Secretary may declare an additional or substitute holiday by Gazette notice throughout Kenya or for a specified area. > A projected religious date is a planning placeholder, not proof of a nationwide public holiday. Record the applicable notice and its geographical scope before changing an all-staff calendar. ## Paying Staff Who Work on a Public Holiday The calendar identifies holiday dates; it does not settle every employee’s pay treatment. The Public Holidays Act preserves written laws and individual agreements under which employees may work on public holidays on stated conditions concerning pay, time off in lieu or otherwise. ### Apply the Correct Pay Rule Use this decision sequence before approving holiday work: - **Identify coverage.** Establish the employee’s applicable wage order. The Regulation of Wages (General) Order does not apply to workers in the agricultural industry. - **Read the employment terms.** Check the contract and any collective bargaining agreement for relevant conditions or more favourable terms. - **Apply the governing rate.** For covered employees, the General Order treats public-holiday work or work on the normal rest day as overtime payable at twice the normal hourly rate. - **Record the actual work.** Keep the holiday date, hours worked, authorisation and payroll treatment together so the payment can be traced back to the roster. Do not apply a blanket rule that a day off later cancels holiday-work pay. Establish whether the governing law and employment terms support the proposed arrangement before offering time off in lieu. The Employment Act requires written particulars to state annual-leave entitlement, including public holidays and holiday pay, precisely enough to calculate entitlement. Align the contract, handbook and payroll instructions rather than leaving each supervisor to interpret them. Use your [payroll process](https://cazini.co.ke/payroll) to distinguish holiday-work earnings from ordinary earnings. Once the correct gross earnings are established, the [Kenya PAYE calculator](https://cazini.co.ke/tools/kenya-paye-calculator) can help estimate deductions and take-home pay; it does not decide the employee’s holiday entitlement. [Kenya PAYE calculator](https://cazini.co.ke/tools/kenya-paye-calculator) - work out net pay and every deduction for any salary. ## A Practical HR Update Workflow Maintain a master calendar with separate fields for date, holiday name, legal basis, affected employees, geographical scope and confirmation status. Label computable annual dates differently from events awaiting confirmation so a planning placeholder cannot silently become a payroll instruction. Assign responsibility for checking Kenya Gazette notices, especially for religious holidays and additional declarations. Retain the notice used, check whether it adds or substitutes a holiday, and confirm whether it applies nationally or only to a specified area. When an update is confirmed, reconcile it across [employee management records](https://cazini.co.ke/employee-management), leave calendars, shift rosters and payroll. Notify supervisors which employees and locations are affected, and review any leave or shifts already entered against that date. For each holiday payroll run, compare actual attendance with the approved roster. Resolve the governing pay treatment before processing adjustments, rather than relying on the calendar label alone. ## FAQs ### Is 10 August 2027 a Public Holiday in Kenya? Yes, employers should treat Tuesday, 10 August 2027 as a public holiday, subject to any lawful change to the election date. IEBC has published that date for the General Election, and the Public Holidays Act makes the general-election day following dissolution of Parliament a public holiday. ### Are 11 October, 13 December and 27 December Holidays? Yes. They follow Mazingira Day, Jamhuri Day and Boxing Day respectively, each of which falls on a Sunday in 2027. The Act makes the following day a public holiday when a public holiday falls on Sunday. ### Does a Saturday Holiday Create a Replacement Monday? No automatic Monday holiday arises from a Saturday holiday under the Sunday-substitution rule. Labour Day on Saturday, 1 May and Christmas Day on Saturday, 25 December therefore do not themselves create Monday holidays. Monday, 27 December follows Sunday’s Boxing Day. ### Are Eid Dates Final, and Does Diwali Cover Everyone? Do not treat 2027 Idd-ul-Fitr or Idd-ul-Azha dates as final nationwide dates without the applicable official notice. The Act distinguishes nationwide holidays from additional Islamic and Hindu religious entitlements, so Diwali should not simply be marked as an all-staff holiday. Check the statutory entitlement separately from any Gazette declaration extending coverage. ### Must Public-Holiday Work Be Paid at Double Rate? For employees covered by the Regulation of Wages (General) Order, public-holiday work is overtime payable at twice the normal hourly rate. That Order excludes workers in the agricultural industry, so check the applicable wage order, contract and collective agreement. Do not assume time off in lieu automatically replaces the applicable payment entitlement. ## Sources [Kenya Law - Public Holidays Act, Cap. 110](https://kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/1912/21/eng%402024-04-26) - Annual holidays, Mazingira Day, Sunday substitution, religious coverage, election and swearing-in holidays, and Gazette powers. [Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission - Publication of Notice of General Election](https://www.iebc.or.ke/news/?PUBLICATION_OF_NOTICE_OF_GENERAL_ELECTION=) - Published General Election date of Tuesday, 10 August 2027. [Kenya Law - Regulation of Wages (General) Order](https://kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/ln/1982/120/eng%402026-06-26) - Double-rate public-holiday work for covered employees and exclusion of agricultural workers. [Kenya Law - Employment Act, Cap. 226](https://kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/act/2007/11/eng%402024-04-26) - Written particulars covering annual leave, public holidays and holiday pay. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is 10 August 2027 a public holiday in Kenya? Yes, employers should treat Tuesday, 10 August 2027 as a public holiday, subject to any lawful change to the election date. IEBC has published that date for the General Election, and the Public Holidays Act makes the general-election day following dissolution of Parliament a public holiday. ### Are 11 October, 13 December and 27 December 2027 public holidays? Yes. They follow Mazingira Day, Jamhuri Day and Boxing Day respectively, each of which falls on a Sunday in 2027. The Public Holidays Act makes the following day a public holiday when a public holiday falls on Sunday. ### Does a Saturday public holiday create a replacement Monday? No automatic Monday holiday arises from a Saturday holiday under the Sunday-substitution rule. Labour Day on Saturday, 1 May 2027 and Christmas Day on Saturday, 25 December 2027 therefore do not themselves create Monday holidays. Monday, 27 December is a public holiday because Boxing Day falls on Sunday. ### Are the 2027 Eid dates final, and does Diwali cover everyone? Do not treat 2027 Idd-ul-Fitr or Idd-ul-Azha dates as final nationwide dates without the applicable official notice. The Act distinguishes nationwide holidays from additional holidays for persons belonging to the Islamic and Hindu faiths, so Diwali should not simply be marked as an all-staff holiday. Check the statutory religious entitlement separately from any Gazette declaration extending coverage. ### Must public-holiday work be paid at double rate? For employees covered by the Regulation of Wages (General) Order, public-holiday work is overtime payable at twice the normal hourly rate. That Order excludes workers in the agricultural industry, so establish the applicable wage order, contract and collective agreement before processing pay. Do not assume that time off in lieu automatically replaces the applicable payment entitlement.