Pressure on governors to give minorities right job share

Pressure is mounting on the 47 governors to include at least 30 per cent of minorities in their county civil service as required by the law, which had been ignored by the inaugural governors in 2013.

This has become urgent as  governors prepare to constitute their cabinets and offer fresh employment in their county public service.  

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has sounded the alarm that 32 out of the 47 outgoing governors did not meet the requirement by the County Governments Act, 2012 to reserve 30 per cent of the county jobs to the minorities.

NCIC chief executive, Hassan Mohamed said that ethnic identity was a major challenge for the initial governors but the commission has been working closely with counties to ensure that minorities are accommodated in employment according to the law.

30 PER CENT

Section 65 (a) of the County Governments Act, 2012, requires the County Public Service Board “To ensure that at least thirty percent of the vacant posts at entry level are filled by candidates who are not from the dominant ethnic community in the county.”

However, an Ethnic and Diversity Audit survey done by the NCIC looking at appointments and employment of the counties’ Public Service, reveals that only 15 counties (31.9 percent) have adhered to section 65 of the County Governments Act by giving more than 30 per cent of the vacancies to members of ethnic groups that are not dominant in their precincts.

The remaining 32 counties, or 68 per cent have hired more than 70 per cent of their staff from one ethnic group.

This implies that in spite of the existing law, new recruitments continue to contravene the provisions of the law.

INTER-ETHNIC INTERACTION

On the overall, counties such as Kilifi, Mombasa, and Kwale with 33, and Nakuru with 31 ethnic groups each seemed to have generated a wider inter-ethnic interaction platform as opposed to others such as Kirinyaga (9), Nandi (10) and Nyeri with 11 ethnic groups. 

Observation made from the study affirms that counties with a wider inter-ethnic representation, tended to adhere to legal expectations.

Similarly, counties with leaner ethnic group representation tended to flout the provision in the CGA.

The study, however, found out that County Executive Committees in 18 counties were mono-ethnic while 22 County Public Service Boards are made up of only one ethnic group.

The major problem is that the naming of certain counties after ethnic groups such as; Samburu, Kisii, Tharaka Nithi, Nandi, Turkana, West Pokot, Embu and Meru appear to have given the impression that the said communities have a sense of entitlement and an advantage for opportunities within the county.

PERCEPTION

As a result, seven out of these eight counties accorded over 90 per cent of posts to the named groups.

For instance, the Taita/Taveta County Public Service Board and the County Executive Committee were composed of only the two communities.

“The perception that counties were created for local people to wholly benefit from the financial, human and natural resources is misguided.

This is aggravated by the fact that county policies seem to emphasise the indigeneity of certain groups within the county. Some Kenyans feel that this may crystallise tribalism,” said the report.

LEGISLATION

Mr Nzamba Kitonga, a Nairobi lawyer who chaired the Committee of Experts that drafted document said lack of legislative framework for enforcing this rule is a big challenge adding country must come up with new ways of ensuring that minorities are given the opportunities they deserve.

“In the absence of legislation with sanctions against governors who flout this law. The NCIC should be able to impose some sanctions if there are no compliance” said Mr Kitonga.

The NCIC Act, 2008 allows the commission to write a compliance notice to those counties who flout the rule, with the culprits expected to write back within 30 days with strategies of meeting the minority threshold. The law allows the commission to sue those who fail to comply, but nobody has been taken to court since the counties were constituted in 2013. 

“If well implemented, this will lead to enhanced unity of purpose amongst Kenyans of all walks of life,” said NCIC chairman, Francis Ole Kaparo.