• State agencies must ensure that 30 per cent of vacant posts at entry level are filled by candidates not from the dominant ethnic community.
• A number of counties also lack a laid framework for hiring staff which leads into officials working in an acting capacity for long.
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A number of county assemblies have violated the constitutional requirement that a third of their workforce be sourced from other regions.
In his latest report, Auditor General Edward Ouko revealed that out of West Pokot's 95 workers, 85 are from the dominant community. This represents 89 per cent of the whole workforce.
Turkana county has hired 204 from the local community in its workforce of 214 staff, representing 96 per cent.
Auditor General Edward Ouko, in his latest report on the county assembly finances, revealed that majority of the counties are in breach of the law.
Section 65 of the County Governments Act, 2012, stipulates County Public Service Boards to ensure that 30 per cent of vacant posts at entry level is filled by candidates not from the dominant ethnic community.
But according to the various audit reports for the 2017-18 financial year, this is not the case especially in Rift Valley, Central and parts of Western.
A number of counties also lack a laid framework for hiring staff which leads into officials working in an acting capacity for long.
For instance, Uasin Gishu county hired 80 workers (87 per cent) from the dominant community leaving only 12 slots to others.
“Further, the county recruited six new officers on a contract basis from the dominant ethnic community,” Ouko said.
Kericho was found to lack a staff establishment system, hence recruitments are conducted without any formula.
Eleyo Marakwet assembly has 68 workers of whom 65 are from the dominant ethnic group, almost similar to Bomet where the assembly hired 69 new employees of which 56 were from the dominant ethnic group.
During the audit period, Nandi county assembly was found to have equally hired nine workers in violation of the one-third rule.
A scrutiny of the Kakamega county assembly payroll also revealed that the county had 80 members of staff of which 93 per cent from the dominant community.
Ethnic imbalance is a going concern in most state departments and other government establishment amid fears the NCIC is not doing enough to end the debacle.
Mwatate MP Andrew Mwadime has proposed a Bill in Parliament seeking to compel all state organs in the national and county assemblies to submit annual reports on details of human resource.
This, if approved, will be in respect of constitutional commissions, independent offices, county public service boards, and county assembly public service boards.
“The reports should contain details outlining the total number of employees and highlighting their gender, age, county of birth and county of residence,” the lawmaker says in the proposal.
“By receiving the annual reports, legislators will be able to analyse and query non-compliant state organs,” Mwadime said.
In Kiambu, the county assembly has 87 employees of whom 79 per cent are from the dominant community and the rest shared by five ethnic groups.
“The financial statements were signed and delivered for audit by the clerk but no information or documentary evidence show how the position of the clerk was filled,” Ouko said in respect to Kiambu.
Meru county assembly was also found to be in breach of the law amid revelations that 71 of the 74 county assembly workers are from the dominant community.
Section 7 of the NCIC Act also says that any public establishment shall have no more than two thirds of its staffs from the dominant ethnic community.
The same is the case in Nyeri where 90 per cent of permanent employees at the county assembly are from one ethnic group, the same being the case of Samburu at 88 per cent.
“Further, on gender, only 26 per cent of the Samburu county employees were female,” Ouko reported, adding that
In Western, Vihiga county assembly was found to have contravened the law amid reports that 97 per cent of the employees are from the dominant community.
while Wajir did not demonstrate how it has dealt with the variances in staff ranking in the absence of a staff establishment framework.