The Judicial Service Commission is the only, out of 15 commissions surveyed by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, that does not meet ethnic balance in its workforce.
The NCIC said JSC violates Section 7 ( 2 ) of the NCIC Act by hiring more than a third of its workers from the same ethnic community.
According to the survey, 39.1 per cent of JSC’s workforce is from the Kikuyu community, against the required index of 33.3 per cent. The report released yesterday says the commission’s staff comprise 17.4 per cent from the Kisii community, the Luo ( 13 per cent), the Kambas and Kalenjins 8.7 per cent, while the Luhyas, Meru and Njembs have 4.3 per cent each.
“The most diverse commission is the Parliamentary Service, which has 29 ethnic communities in its staff ,” NCIC chairman Francis ole Kaparo said.
He said the CEOs of the surveyed commissions are from eight ethinic backgrounds, majority of whom are from the Luhya community with a 26.7 per cent representation.
Kaparo, however, said the survey indicated that public institutions with decentralised offi ces have more ethnic compositions in their staffing, compared to those that have one office in Nairobi.
He cited the Teachers Service Commission, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.
The other commissions surveyed in the report as at May included the National Land Commission, the Commission on Revenue Allocation, Commission on Administrative Justice,
the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Public Service Commission.
Others were the National Police Service Commission, The National Gender and Equality Commission, Parliamentary Service Commission, the Commission for the Implementation
of the Constitution and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW
Kaparo said their recommendations are that the President and Parliament should include at least one person from the minority communities in each appointment to a commission.
He said there is need for Parliament to review Article 250 ( 4 ) of the Constitution the law forming all commissions to have appointments accommodate all ethnic groups as opposed to reflecting regional balance.
On parastatals, the study revealed that this is the sub-sector with the highest inclusion of minority communities such as the Gosha, Waat and Dasenach, who are rarely found in sub-sectors such as counties, commissions, universities and national mainstream civil service, with less than 0.01 percentage representations.
The report said the most diverse institution in terms of fair recruitment on the basis of tribe is the Kenya Ports Authority, which has recruited staff from 34 ethnic groups. It is followed by the Kenya Forest Service, the Kenya Airports Authority and the Kenya Revenue Authority, who all have staff from 30 communities.
Overall, the Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luhya and Luo account for the largest proportion, occupying 20.62, 15.7, 15.02 and 13.89 per cent of all parastatal job slots respectively.
Of the 185 state corporations surveyed, 129 complied with the NCIC Act as the majority ethnic group in their employment did not exceed 33.3 per cent.
The report ranked Nzoia Sugar Company, Kerio Valley Development Authority, Tana Water Services Board and Mumias Sugar Company as the worst performing parastatals in regard to complying with the NCIC Act.
The parastatals hired 89 per cent, 79.1, 76.9 and 76.8 of its employees respectively from the communities dominant in their areas the Luhya, Kalenjin and Kikuyu.
On counties, the study revealed that only 15 counties ( 31.9 per cent) have adhered to section 65 of the County Governments Act by giving more than 30 per cent of jobs to ethnic groups not dominant within their areas.
“In fact, 68 per cent of the counties have hired more than 70 per cent of their staff from one ethnic group,” Kaparo said.
He named Kirinyaga, Nandi, and Nyeri as the biggest culprits with only nine, 10 and 11 per cent of their staff being from other communities.
“Two county assemblies, Kirinyaga and Nandi, have recruited only one ethnic group in the entire assembly workforce,” Kaparo said.
The findings revealed that only 13 assemblies ( 27.6 per cent) have recruited at least 30 per cent of their employees from non-dominant ethnic groups.