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The role of education for sustainable development (ESD) is to help people develop the attitudes, skills, and knowledge to make informed decisions for the benefit of themselves and society. While many nations around the world have embraced the need for education to achieve sustainability, only limited progress has been made in any level. This paper focuses on examining current higher education policies in place in Kenya, and how their implementation is an impediment to ESD implementation in higher education. The paper notes that higher education policies in Kenya do not optimally support holistic learning pedagogy for sustainable development. ESD policies should either involve creation of another “add on” subject, (e.g., Sustainable Development, Environmental Education, or Population Education) or reorient entire education programs and practices to address sustainable development. Embedding sustainability themes within the curriculum supports young people as global citizens and equips them with skills, values and attributes for learning, life and work. In the post-2015 decade, the ESD agenda has been summarized under the Global Action Programme (GAP) priority areas and SDGs to heighten its mainstreaming. Learning for sustainable development constitutes a trigger for innovations in education and should be supported. Hence this paper is significant in providing relevant information for action and decision making for policy makers, educators and trainers, teachers and community towards improving quality of education in their societies.