Coalition to blame for imbalance, says Muthaura

Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura has blamed the perceived ethnic imbalance in the composition of the government on the coalition arrangement.

This came as the Parliamentary Committee on equal opportunities sought to understand the policies to guard against discrimination, whether based on gender, age, tribe, race and even disability.

The top civil servants were placed on the spot over the government’s development  policies with regard to resource allocation.

Mr Muthaura, his deputy Sam Mwale and the permanent secretary in charge of Public Service Titus Ndambuki were engaged in a three-hour meeting at Parliament’s Continental House in Nairobi.

The House committee asked the senior officials to explain the perception of an imbalance in the civil service, viewed from the tribe, gender and age lenses.

While Mr Muthaura agreed that some ministries and departments were deeply composed of people from the same ethnicity, he said the government had taken “deliberate steps” to counter that.

He said the coalition government had shifted focus from the gender and regional balance to “balancing the political equation.”

He said it was “easy to manage” the appointments in previous governments.

Mr Muthaura, also the Secretary to the Cabinet, said all permanent secretaries had been instructed to ensure “their staff reflect the national character.”

“I don’t want a situation where you come to Muthaura’s office and find out that the secretary is a mumeru, the driver is a mumeru, the tea girl (too)...that’s is unacceptable,” Mr Muthaura told the committee.

The committee chair Mohammed Affey (nominated MP, ODM-K) led members Millie Odhiambo (nominated, ODM), Fred Kapondi (Mt Elgon, ODM), Raphael Letimalo (Samburu East, ODM) and Luka Kigen (Rongai, ODM) in seeking answers to the apparent ethnic bias in the public service recruitment.

Mr Kapondi and Mr Letimalo petitioned Mr Affey to recall Mr Muthaura to bring a detailed report on the employment data in the public service.

The committee ordered that the results be tabled within two weeks when the civil service is expected to make another presentation.

Mr Affey said the government ought to respect the National Cohesion and Integration Act which puts a one-third threshold on the people from one region in a particular department.

“We just want to see the law implemented to the letter,” Mr Affey added.

Promotions in the civil service also came to the fore, but the Head of Civil Service and Mr Ndambuki, the Public Service PS, defended the criteria terming  it as “very fair.”

They said the Public Service Commission had representatives from each of the provinces and as such merit did prevail in nearly all the promotions.

“Merit, regional balance, integrity and gender balance are top on the criteria... but the need to balance the political equation ends up sacrificing quality,” Mr Muthaura said.

The appointment of ambassadors, chairmen of boards, university chancellors and directors of parastatals are some of the worst affected positions.

The Head of Civil Service added that the imbalance in government was gradually being tackled through interministerial and interdepartmental transfers.

“It will take a long time, but we are trying to arrest it at entry (recruitment) level,”  he told the committee.

He asked the committee to “keep piling pressure” so that “these things are sorted out.”

“We are dealing with so many things. Without keeping the government on its toes some important things such as this are forgotten,” he said.

Mr Mwale added: “You can never have a completely equal society. What you can do is to give Kenyans an equal chance by reducing the obvious inequalities.”