Report: Patronage locks out small ethnic groups

Others of Kenya’s 42 ethnic groups also have less than 100 members in the more than 300,000 strong civil service. Photo/FILE

The marginalisation of small ethnic groups was laid bare on Wednesday, with an audit showing 23 of them have less than one per cent representation in the civil service.

The Teso, Samburu, Pokomo, Kuria and Rendile are among the most under-represented groups, a National Cohesion and Integration Commission report says.

Others of the country’s 42 ethnic groups also have less than 100 members in the more than 300,000 strong civil service.

The Kenyan Arabs have 90 members, Asians 74, Boni-Sanye 44, Elmolo 24, Gosha 19, Dasnach-Shangil 10 and Kenyan Europeans two.

The Teso have only 2,029 members in the civil service, or 0.961 per cent of the 338,000 workforce, while the Samburu have 1,457, Pokomo 1,303, Kuria 1,207, Mbeere 1,062, Gabra 648, Bajuni 579, Basuba 462, Tharaka 365, Orma 349 and Rendile 301.

Others are the Burji (288), Taveta (237), Njemps (220), Swahili-Shirazi (122) and Dorobo (119).

The “First Ethnic Audit of the Kenya Civil Service” shows a variance between an ethnic group’s population and share of civil service posts.

Whereas some have a greater share of civil service jobs in relation to their population, others have a lesser one.

The Borana have only 1.31 per cent of their members in the police, the Teso 1.45, Turkana 1.47 and Taita 1.52.

In the newly created Ministry of Nairobi Metropolitan Development, the Pokomo, Teso, Bajuni and Kalenjin constitute 1.09 per cent each, while Kikuyus constitute 33.7 per cent.

This trend is replicated in the Ministry of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands as well as the Office of the Prime Minister.

“Over 50 per cent of Kenya’s ethnic groups are only marginally represented in the civil service – the country’s largest employer.

There are racial and ethnic inequalities in the way the civil service is currently constituted,” the report says.

Commission chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia warned: “We cannot have a civil service with no face of Kenya and equity and say we need to have a harmonious country. If we fail to fix inequality, it will be a big challenge to national cohesion.”

He said some jobs did not need high education, adding that the “big” communities dominated even low cadre jobs like serving tea and cleaning.

Access to education

The imbalance in recruitment, he said, had disillusioned some ethnic groups who do not apply for jobs even if they were qualified, as they believed they would not be hired.

The report says the variance in employment is caused by disparities in access to education, proximity to the location of government offices as well as willingness to seek employment in the public service.

According to Dr Kibunjia, there is also need to improve infrastructure including, schools and communication, in the marginalised areas.

The National Cohesion and Integration Act requires public entities to seek representation in the diversity of their staff.

The composition of the civil service is important not only because it is the face of government and can speak volumes about inclusivity, but also because salaries from jobs are an important source of income for many people. Salaries form the initial bases for wealth accumulation.

“Kenya must not allow itself to operate an informal apartheid system that could perpetuate an intergenerational transmission of inequality,” Dr Kibunjia said.

A new criterion for representation, which recognises the need to urgently include the under-represented groups, needs to be negotiated and enacted into law, he added.

“Affirmative action should be adopted for communities that are missing from the Civil Service.”

According to the the commission’s boss, the 33 per cent ceiling that an ethnic group is not supposed to surpass should be reduced to 15 to 20 per cent. Small communities, he said, should get key appointments.

The report notes that the civil service once dominated by Europeans and Asians has dramatically changed in its composition over 40 years.

On Wednesday, the integration commission did not release an ethnic composition audit of parastatals and other government bodies, saying that it was still analysing them.

The commission intends to release a report on gender balance.