New rules on tribal balance for all jobs

Employers in the private sector will be audited in a new policy to fight tribalism and racism.

Private companies will be asked to file returns to ensure diversity in employment and counties will not hire more than a third of their staff from one tribe.

Instead, they will be required to hire from the whole country. Tribal associations in universities and colleges will also be discouraged.

Also facing the action are televised church services, popular on Sunday, which the National Cohesion and Integration Commission recommends should be reduced because Kenya is a secular state.

These are some of the proposals made during the conference to promote ethnic and racial harmony at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi which ended on Tuesday.

“The education of young people should deliberately inculcate positive values on ethnic and race relations as opinions they form will often be those they will carry with them throughout their lives,” the policy against tribalism says on tribal associations in institutions of learning.

“Education should lead to enlightenment, understanding and tolerance of the people of all ethnic groups and races,” it adds, noting that the institutions have been targeted for the role they play in national cohesion. (READ: Kenya ethnic bastions on campus exposed)

The proposal on tribal associations is one among 68 other items on the NCIC list to foster ethnic, racial and religious diversity in Kenya with fears that the country may slide to violence if the regulations are not observed.

NCIC chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia, said this was not only critical during this election year, but equally important since the country was switching from a central government to a devolved government structure.

Recruitment processes

“The climate of tension has been accentuated by the International Criminal Court confirmation of charges,” Dr Kibunjia said.

“There is therefore an urgent need to pro-actively start continuous conversation on ethnic, racial and religious grievances and their possible resolution with the political and economic elite across the country,” he said.

He was speaking at the close of a two-day conference dubbed “The People’s Conference: National Diversity, Race and Ethnicity” that launched the first-ever policy on ethnicity and racism in Kenya.

Under the policy, public and private institutions shall be compelled to promote and ensure integration, cohesion and peaceful coexistence.

In recruitment for county offices, a county with seven resident ethnic and racial communities, for example, shall appoint officers in a manner that includes all the groups.

“Ethnic and racial inclusion will not be a substitute for merit, but it will be a means of encouraging persons in authority to look for qualified people from all ethnic and racial backgrounds.”

“Positive ethnic and race relations are necessary for a stable nation but can’t be attained without a policy and implementation framework,” Dr Kibunjia said, adding that the policy will enhance diversity and tolerance.

The document, to be circulated throughout the country, warns that there was a danger of some communities misreading devolution to mean the creation of ethnic-specific-county enclaves in the transitional period.

“All Kenyans citizens are people who are legally in Kenya and have the constitutional right to live and work in any of the counties,” the policy said, adding that they also have a right to own property in the counties.

“Nation-building will only succeed when all citizens believe they will succeed on merit as opposed to ethic or race based corruption and that they are not going to be discriminated on such basis.”

Further, the policy said that no public establishment shall have more than one third of its staff from the same ethnic community because counties will draw staff from all over country.

According to the policy, there is a relationship between economic growth and multi-culturalism.

“Areas that are multi-cultural are more likely to experience faster growth by reaping from the benefits of diversity.”

The private sector shall also be obligated to provide ethnic and racial diversity reports to the government as well as advancing employment policies and practices that are in line with the policy.

The use of Kiswahili shall be enhanced as the language creates national identity and is critical for citizen participation in governance and development.

National and county governments will ensure that all educational institutions teach Kiswahili as it is not only the national, but also the official language.

NCIC commissioner Alice Nderitu noted that schools had already started implementing elements of the policy especially in areas of the curriculum.

Land issues and ownership have been categorised as one of the long-term goals of the national and county governments of Kenya.

Speaking at the same conference, Lands Minister James Orengo said land injustices have been at the core of discussions in the Kenyan Parliament since independence and they should be resolved as soon as possible.

He, however, said the debate is between those who support land reforms and those who do not, adding that “there is so much vested interests” as some acquisitions have been through acts of impunity.

“The flashpoints of the 2007/2008 post-election violence are all based in areas that have been at the centre of land injustice in Kenya,” Mr Orengo said.

“Without resolving the land question, there is no way you can attain national cohesion. But some of us must make sacrifices because some have land that they acquired through their positions.”