Daily target vs salary: how to pay an Uber driver in Kenya (2026)

An owner who does not drive can pay a driver in one of two ways. The driver can keep the fares and pay the owner a fixed daily amount, which is the usual way in Nairobi. Or the owner can take the fares and pay the driver a salary. They sound like two ways of doing the same thing. They are not. A salary makes the owner an employer, and Kenyan law then sets a minimum wage, deductions and paperwork.

This guide covers the legal floor for drivers' pay in 2026, the cost of a salaried driver once the deductions are added, and when each model works.

The legal minimum wage for a driver (May 2026)

Minimum wages for drivers are set by the Regulation of Wages (General) Order. The latest version is the Regulation of Wages (General) (Amendment) Order, 2026 (Legal Notice No. 95, published 29 May 2026). It applies from 1 May 2026, so pay for May and June was owed at the new rates. It followed the 12% rise President Ruto announced on Labour Day.

For a driver of cars and light vans, the monthly minimums are:

For comparison, the old 2024 Order (Legal Notice No. 164 of 2024) set KSh 21,748.87 for a car driver in the cities. The same 2026 schedule sets KSh 30,634.69 for a driver of a medium-sized vehicle and KSh 40,724.23 for a driver of heavy commercial vehicles in the cities.

Two points from the Order and the Employment Act:

• These figures do not include housing. The schedule is stated as "exclusive of Housing Allowance". Section 31 of the Employment Act says an employer must provide reasonable housing, or pay enough on top of the wage for the employee to rent it, unless the contract already builds rent into the basic pay.
• A "casual" driver does not stay casual for long. Under section 37 of the Employment Act, a casual employee who works continuously for a month or more is treated as being on a monthly contract.

What salaried drivers actually earn

There is no official "Uber driver salary". What is published:

• The legal floor: KSh 24,358.73 a month in the five cities, as above.
• Corporate driving jobs: a company driver post in Nairobi advertised in July 2026 offered KSh 60,000 a month, but asked for eight years of experience driving senior executives.
• What drivers make on the apps: Bolt's Kenya driver page gives a median of KSh 16,043 a week for June 2026, roughly KSh 69,500 a month over a full month. Bolt says these are rider payments and not guaranteed. In March 2026 Bolt's East Africa general manager put the average driver at about KSh 63,000 a month.

That last point matters. A driver who can make more than the minimum wage on their own account, paying you a daily amount, will not stay long on a minimum-wage salary.

What a salaried driver costs you

A salary brings employer duties. Once you employ a driver you deduct and pay these every month:

PAYE bands start at 10% on the first KSh 24,000 of monthly taxable pay, with a personal relief of KSh 2,400 a month. KRA lets NSSF, SHIF and the housing levy come off before tax. PAYE is due to KRA by the 9th of the following month, and the housing levy by the 9th working day after the month ends.

Worked example: a driver on the Nairobi minimum of KSh 24,358.73

That is before any housing allowance, overtime or leave cover. Run any salary through the PAYE calculator.

On a salary the driver is also entitled to at least one rest day in every seven and at least 21 working days of paid leave a year (Employment Act, sections 27 and 28). And under section 66A of the Traffic Act, nobody may drive a public service vehicle for more than eight hours in any 24.

How the daily-amount model compares

On a daily amount the driver is not on your payroll. The driver's own Uber or Bolt account is paid, the driver buys the fuel, and pays you an agreed amount for each working day. Business Daily put the usual rate at about KSh 1,500 a day, depending on owner and model — but that report is from 2021, so check what owners near you charge now. See what owners really make.

To take the fares yourself you need a fleet account, so the platform pays you rather than the driver — see how fleet accounts work.

Which one to choose

A salary suits you if you have several cars, someone to manage fuel and check trips every day, and enough cash to carry a slow month. You keep every shilling of a good week, and you pay your costs in a bad one.

A daily amount suits you if you want a predictable income and do not want to run payroll. Its weak point is collection. A missed day noticed the same evening is a phone call. A missed week noticed on Saturday is a debt.

Some owners mix the two: a small fixed wage plus a share of fares, or a daily amount with a bonus for a clean month. Whatever you choose, write it down — the driver agreement generator makes a printable version — and check the numbers with the daily amount calculator.

If you choose the daily amount

Gariboss is built for that model. You set a daily amount for each car, and rest and garage days are not counted as owed. The driver pays into your own M-Pesa till. Payments are matched to the car automatically, the driver can see their running balance, and every evening you get a WhatsApp report of who has paid.