Three tribes dominate top government jobs, CS tells senators

The top positions in the Civil Service, State departments and Kenya’s foreign missions are dominated by members of the Kikuyu community, a committee of the Senate heard on Thursday. 

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Margret Kobia told the committee on National Cohesion that there are 417 senior level management positions in the Civil Service and State corporations.

These include Cabinet secretaries, chief administrative secretaries, principal secretaries and all officers holding jobs in groups T, U, and V. Currently, there are 22 Cabinet secretaries, 26 chief administrative secretaries and 42 principal secretaries.

At the same time, there are seven officers in job group V, 48 in group U while those in T are 272, bringing the total to 417.

The Kikuyu hold 120 positions of the 417, followed by the Kalenjin at a distant second with 45 positions.

The Luo have 41 positions, Luhya (33) while the Kamba close the top five with 27 posts.

Foreign missions

While there are 286 parastatals and State corporations, the CS provided a list of only 180 which suggest that the Kikuyu are represented by 36 CEOs, followed by the Kalenjin (35), Luo (26), Luhya (18) and Kamba 10.

Out of the 61 foreign missions/embassies, the CS told the committee session chaired by Nominated Senator Naomi Shiyonga, only 52 missions have heads. Two missions are headed by one ambassador, suggesting that the total number of active ambassadors are 51.

Even here, the Kikuyu have 14 heads of missions, followed by the Kalenjin with seven, Luhya and Luo have five each while the Kamba have four.

CS Kobia told the committee the government still endevours to adhere to the policy on regional balancing and affirmative action during recruitment and promotion of staff while maintaining the need to ensure professionalism and meritocracy.

“Experience, qualification and competencies are considered alongside regional balancing. In any case, senior positions in government are competitively filled through advertisements and interviews,” she told the committee.

However, the committee members argued the report displayed skewed distribution of jobs and urged the CSs to rectify the situation to give the unrepresented communities “a sense of belonging”.

Serious issues

“There are serious issues with the data you have provided,” Ms Shiyonga told the CS, who was accompanied by CAS Rachel Shebesh.

The senator wanted the CS to explain why some individuals in the public service serve longer in acting positions while others are appointed to substantive posts without much ado.

“We also want to know why some people are recycled to serve after retirement and why some are eased out once they hit the retirement age,” she said.

Nominated Senator Gertrude Musuruve challenged the CS to provide a tabulation of people living with disabilities and their positions in the public service.

In terms of regional diversity, Kiambu County has 29 senior positions in the Civil Service, followed by Murang’a with 27, Nyeri 24, Meru 21, and Kisii 13.

Meru is home to 13 CEOs of parastatals/State corporations, Bungoma has 11, Siaya 12, Nyeri 10, and Murang’a and Kiambu with six each.

Only 32 counties have produced ambassadors. Kiambu has five while Meru, Kitui and Siaya have produced three ambassadors each. Baringo, Kilifi, Bungoma, Muranga, Nyandarua and Uasin Gishu have two ambassadors each.