Governors on the spot over tribal hiring practices

Governors have been put on notice over the lack of ethnic diversity in their workforce, with the Senate embarking on an audit of county payrolls.

This comes amid reports that over 90 percent of workers in most county governments comprise people from the same ethnic group.

Section 7(2) of the National Cohesion and Integration (NCIC) Act, 2008 states that no government office shall have more than 30 percent of its staff from the same ethnic community. 

Further, Section 66 of the County Governments Act, 2012 requires the devolved units to ensure not more than 70 per cent of the county public service positions at any level are occupied by persons from the dominant ethnic community.

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, in her report for the financial year ended June 30, 2023, revealed that, out of 3,566 workers in Bomet, 3,467(97 percent) were from the same ethnic community.

It was followed by Nandi (96 percent), Elgeyo Marakwet (95 percent) and Nyandarua where 2,264 out of 2,373 employees were from one dominant ethnic community.

The Senate’s National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration Committee has already embarked on the exercise that targets county executives and county assemblies.

“We have written to all the governors, county public service boards and county assembly public service boards to come and tell us about the composition of their staff,” said Committee chairperson and Marsabit Senator Mohamed Chute.

He lamented that the composition of the workforce in the counties flouted the law regarding people with disabilities, gender and ethnic diversity.

Section 7 of the NCIC Act, 2015 prohibits ethnic discrimination and requires government agencies to promote ethnic diversity and fair employment practices.