Two communities dominate top cadre jobs in state agencies, leaving the rest to scramble for the remaining few available slots, according to a report tabled in Parliament.
The reports tabled before the National Assembly Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Cohesion by the various heads of the state agencies indicate that Kalenjins and Kikuyus make up the biggest chunk of employees in all the agencies so far examined.
The committee chaired by Mandera West MP Adan Haji is currently meeting all state agencies to check the ethnic composition of their employees in order to determine whether they comply with Section 7 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act, which states: “No public establishment shall have more than one-third of its staff from the same ethnic community.”
Section 7(1) and (2) of the Act states that all offices shall seek to represent the diversity of the people of Kenya in the employment of staff and no public institution shall have more than one-third of its staff from the same community.
In the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), out of 2,842 of its secretariat staff, Kikuyus have the highest number at 545, followed by Kalenjins with 412, Kamba are third with 323, Luhyas come fourth with 318 while Luos closes the top five with 266.
The documents tabled by CEO Nancy Macharia show that, out of the 1,077 secretariat staff at the middle level at TSC, Kikuyus are 316, followed by the Kalenjins (131), Kambas (127), Luhyas (103) and Meru (89).
Ms Macharia defended the distribution, saying, at the secretariat level, it’s about technical know-how and specialisation in a given area. She said one has to be highly competitive in order to make it at that level.
MPs, however, criticised the distribution saying there are more qualified Kenyans even from marginalised communities who have the requisite qualifications to take up the jobs.
“There is no position in Kenya for which you will fail to get a qualified Kenyan. There are many people outside here that can occupy such slots,” said Kasipul MP Ong’ondo Were.
According to the TSC report, out of the 346,760 registered teachers in the country, Kalenjins have the highest number at 59,538 followed closely by the Kikuyus at 59,010, Luhyas come third with 52,882 followed by Luos at 40,657. Kambas close the top five with 39,807.
In the ethnic distribution of teachers in the senior management level in primary schools, Kalenjins top the list with 6,159 followed by Kikuyus with 5,159, Kambas are third with 5,122, Luhyas comes fourth with 4,653 while Luos are at number five with 4,500.
The Kikuyu have the most teachers in post-primary schools with 3,493 followed by Luhyas (2, 736), Kalenjins (2,063), Luos (2,055), Kisiis (1,323) and Kambas (1,950).
At the lower level, Kalenjins still leads in the ethnic distribution of teachers in primary schools with 24,144, followed by Luhya (21,943), Kikuyus (21,540), Luos (16,574) and Kambas (16,532).
In post-primary institutions at the lower level, Kalenjins still top the list with 17, 198 teachers, Luhyas come second with 15, 707, Kikuyus are third with 14, 628, Luos come fourth with 11, 663 teachers while Kisii are fifth with 10,409.
At the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco), documents tabled before the committee indicate Kalenjin, Kikuyu, Luos, Kamba, and Meru communities dominate the current staff of 540 of the agency.
According to the ethnic distribution matrix tabled by the acting Managing Director Issac Kiva, Kalenjins are 125 translating to 24 per cent of the total staff, followed by Kikuyus at 90 (17 per cent), Luos are third with 65, Kambas come fourth with 49 while Merus closes the top five with 20.
The least represented communities in the parastatal are Dasemach, Dorobo, Kuria, Pokomo, Taveta and Turkana who have only one employee.
Overall, Ketraco has 370 male employees (71 per cent) and 150 females (29 per cent). The documents show that, out of the mass recruitment of 158 people in the last three years, Kalenjins took the lion’s share with 57 people, followed by Kikuyus (24), Luhyas (21), Luos (20 ) and Kambas (14).
At Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital KUTRRH, Kikuyus make up 46.23 per cent of the workforce with 649 out of 1,404 workers.
According to documents tabled before the committee by KUTRRH chief executive Ahmed Dagane, members of the Luhya community come a distant second, with 123 staff members (8.7 per cent) followed by 111 Luos (7.9 per cent).
At Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kura), out of its 747 staff across various cadres, 235 employees are from the Kikuyu community, translating to 31.5 per cent, followed by Kalenjins with 102 or 13.5 per cent of the workforce. Luhyas are third with 84 employees with the Luos coming fourth with 83 employees.
The Kamba have 67 followed by Kisiis (54), Meru (34) and Maasai and Taita having 10 each.
Documents tabled by Director General Philemon Kandie indicate that at the senior management level, Kikuyus occupy 16 translating to 38.2 percent, followed by the Kalenjins with six or 15 per cent. Both the Kamba and Luhyas have five workers each in top management, translating to 12.5 per cent.
In the mass recruitment carried out in 2022, out of the 168 people employed, 38 were Kalenjins, followed by Kikuyus at 36, Luos (17), Kambas (16) and Luhyas (15).
Kisiis had 11 while Merus had 10.Others, such as the Maasai, Somali, Swahili, Suba, Taita, Teso, Mbeere and Mjiknda, had less than ten recruited.
