Mashujaa Day 2026: Tuesday Oct 20, Eldoret, Public Holiday
Mashujaa Day 2026 falls on Tuesday, October 20, and it is a public holiday across Kenya. The national celebration will be held at the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, hosted for the first time by three counties together: Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Elgeyo Marakwet. Internal Security Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo has said President William Ruto and visiting dignitaries will join the celebration, and a week of events runs from October 13 to 18 before the day itself, according to Citizen Digital.
Mashujaa Day 2026 at a glance
- Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2026.
- Public holiday: yes, nationwide. "Mashujaa Day: 20th October" is listed in Part I of the schedule to the Public Holidays Act.
- Main venue: Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County. Principal Secretary Omollo gives its capacity as 15,043 seats.
- Co-hosts: Nandi and Elgeyo Marakwet counties, with complementary activities of their own.
- Theme week: October 13 to 18.
- Last year: Monday, October 20, 2025, at Ithookwe Stadium in Kitui County.
- Start time and live coverage: not announced in any report we checked on October 7. We will add them when the government publishes the programme.
Is Monday, October 19 a holiday too?
No. Section 4 of the Public Holidays Act moves a listed holiday only when it falls on a Sunday, and then the next day that is not a holiday takes its place. That is why Monday, October 21 was the holiday in 2024, when October 20 was a Sunday and the national celebration was held that day in Kwale County (The Star). In 2026 the date is a Tuesday, so Monday, October 19 is an ordinary day unless the Cabinet Secretary adds a holiday by notice in the Kenya Gazette, which section 3 of the Act allows. We have seen no such notice.
The Act also lets the head of a government department open its offices on a public holiday, and lets an employment contract require work on one, so not everyone gets the day off.
Where it is held, and how the venue changed
The venue changed this year. Elgeyo Marakwet had been gazetted as host and its Kamariny Stadium in Iten was being built for the day. On July 13 the government moved the national event to Eldoret, which caused uproar in Elgeyo Marakwet, according to The Standard. Ten days later the steering committee set out how the three counties would share the week.
| Date | What was announced |
|---|---|
| May 2 | Interior Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen says the celebrations will be at Kamariny Stadium in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County (Kenyans.co.ke). |
| Jul 13 | President William Ruto says Elgeyo Marakwet, Uasin Gishu and Nandi will co-host, in Eldoret city (Kenyans.co.ke). |
| Jul 23 | Murkomen says Uasin Gishu hosts the main event at Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, with complementary activities in Nandi and Elgeyo Marakwet (The Standard). |
| Sep 25 | The government says the Eldoret stadium is 68% complete, Kapsabet Stadium (10,000 seats) 45.4% and Kamariny Stadium (10,000 seats) 58% (Citizen Digital). |
The stadium is named after the Olympic champion Kipchoge Keino, and its upgrade is meant to bring it up to Africa Cup of Nations standard for 2027 (Wikipedia, The Standard). In August the Uasin Gishu county government said Eldoret's city government would clean the streets and paint business buildings, and that county staff would coordinate the parade.
The week leading up to October 20
| Date | What is planned |
|---|---|
| Oct 13 to 18 | Government theme week, "Security, Sports and the Finance Sector (The Economy)" (Citizen Digital). |
| Sun, Oct 18 | Marathon final in Elgeyo Marakwet (The Standard). |
| Mon, Oct 19 | Volleyball finals in Nandi (The Standard). |
| Football finals | At Kipchoge Keino Stadium; the report gives no date, and Murkomen said Ruto and state officials will watch the final (The Standard). |
| Tue, Oct 20 | Mashujaa Day, the national celebration at Kipchoge Keino Stadium, Eldoret. |
The sports contests carry Sh63 million in prize money across athletics, football and volleyball, Murkomen said. He said more than 10,000 sportspeople would earn from the events, with at least Sh60 million going directly to participants.
What happens on the day
The President presides over the national celebration, and state honours are conferred there. In 2025 The Standard reported that at least 160 Kenyans were due to be honoured in Kitui, and President Ruto conferred the Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart, Kenya's highest honour, on the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga (Citizen Digital). Raila Odinga died on October 15, 2025, and was laid to rest on October 19, the day before the ceremony.
Who the day honours, and why October 20
Mashujaa is Swahili for "heroes". The day honours everyone who contributed to the struggle for Kenya's independence, or to the country after independence (Wikipedia). Until 2010 it was called Kenyatta Day, after the arrest and detention of the Kapenguria Six: Jomo Kenyatta, Achieng' Oneko, Bildad Kaggia, Fred Kubai, Kung'u Karumba and Paul Ngei. Kenyatta and other nationalist leaders were among those arrested on the night of October 20 to 21, 1952, as Governor Evelyn Baring declared a State of Emergency, and the six were tried in the town of Kapenguria (Wikipedia). The day was renamed after the Constitution of Kenya was promulgated in August 2010.
Dedan Kimathi, captured in 1956 and executed in February 1957, is among the Mau Mau leaders now officially recognised as heroes of the independence struggle. Kenyan nationalists see him as a freedom fighter, and the 2007 statue was part of that recognition (Wikipedia).
Kenya's remaining public holidays in 2026
These are the days in Part I of the schedule that are still to come. Section 4 only moves a holiday that falls on a Sunday, and none of these does. Diwali is an extra holiday for Hindus only, under Part III.
| Public holiday | Date in 2026 | Day |
|---|---|---|
| Mazingira Day | Oct 10 | Saturday |
| Mashujaa Day | Oct 20 | Tuesday |
| Jamhuri Day | Dec 12 | Saturday |
| Christmas Day | Dec 25 | Friday |
| Boxing Day | Dec 26 | Saturday |
What could still change
- The stadium. Sports Kenya's earlier deadline for the upgrade was December 31, so the work is being rushed (The Standard). On September 25 Omollo said "there is still considerable work to be done" but that he was confident the venue would be ready (Citizen Digital).
- Ebola. On October 6 Health Secretary Aden Duale confirmed Kenya's first Ebola case, a man who had returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and died in Nairobi (Al Jazeera). The World Health Organization advised against travel and trade restrictions. We have found no announcement that the Mashujaa Day plans have changed. Follow the Ministry of Health's guidance.
- The theme. In July the steering committee gave it as "Security, Transport and Sports" (The Standard). The government's September 25 update uses "Security, Sports and the Finance Sector (The Economy)".
