Mumias Sugar fails staff ethnic diversity test

The Mumias Sugar Company's main gate. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The NCIC study found that the Luhya community accounts for 76 per cent of 1,686 Mumias’ employees.
  • Luos account for 11.7 per cent of the staff at Mumias followed by Kalenjin (2.6 per cent), Teso (2.5 per cent), Kikuyu (two per cent).
  • The other communities have less than a percentage each, said the commission.

Troubled sugar miller Mumias has failed the ethnic diversity test after a study by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) found that a single tribe makes more than one third of the State-backed company’s workforce.

The NCIC study found that the Luhya community accounts for 76 per cent of 1,686 Mumias’ employees.

“Mumias Sugar Company contravenes the NCI Act as the Luhya, the largest percentage, make up 76 per cent,” said NCIC chairman Francis ole Kaparo in a report released last week.

Mumias is located in western Kenya, which is predominantly occupied by the Luyha tribe. The study found that the loss-making sugar firm’s top management is also skewed in favour of the Luhya community, who occupy 27 of the 48 mid-level management positions.

All other Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)-listed firms with the Treasury shareholding including Kenya Power, KenGen, East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC), and Kenya Re, were found to be compliant with the two-thirds gender rule.

Luos account for 11.7 per cent of the staff at Mumias followed by Kalenjin (2.6 per cent), Teso (2.5 per cent), Kikuyu (two per cent). The other communities have less than a percentage each, said the commission.

The findings are part of an annual audit carried out by the agency to measure the ethnic diversity of all State corporations, agencies and independent offices, national as well as county government civil service.

“All public establishments shall seek to represent the diversity of the people of Kenya in the employment of staff. No public establishment shall have more than one third of its staff from the same ethnic community”, reads section 7 of the NCIC Act (2008).

Mumias chairman Dan Ameyo declined to explain steps the company is taking to achieve ethnic diversity at the distressed sugar firm. “I’ll respond when back,” he said in a telephone interview from Arusha, Tanzania.

Kenya Power, the largest employer among parastatals with a staff of 10,648 workers, has the Kikuyu as making up 26.5 per cent of all employees followed by Kalenjin (14.8 per cent), and Luo at 13.7 per cent.

Staff from the Kikuyu tribe make up the highest proportion at KenGen (32.5 per cent) and Kenya Re (21 per cent), while Kambas account for 20.2 per cent of the workforce at lossmaking cement maker EAPCC.