President William Ruto has been urged to recall nominations made to various positions in government and make more inclusive choices.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission said they have been monitoring appointments made to public office and they find them to lack ethnic, regional and gender balance.
In a press statement on Thursday, they said the latest list of appointments to the National Assembly leadership and the Principal secretaries have been the boldest disregard for the principles of inclusivity according to the Constitution.
“Out of the 25 National Assembly committee chairpersons, 24 are men. Furthermore, 12 out of the 25 appointments come from the previous Rift Valley Province,” they said.
They said some regions like the Coast and Northeastern are not represented, while Eastern and Nyanza have one representative each.
“Nairobi and Western regions have two representatives each, while the rest of the slots have been awarded to the former Central region,” they said.
The commission said the biggest share of the recent nomination slots for the Principal secretaries have been given to Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities as happened with the appointments of Cabinet secretaries.
“Some 13 appointees to the PS position come from the Kalenjin community and another 13 appointees from the Kikuyu community," they said.
"Nine other communities got minimal representation, while a bigger number of other communities have been left out.”
They said it is unjust given that Kenya has 45 communities, most of which have historically suffered from discrimination, especially by the ruling class.
“To add on that, only 11 women were nominated as Principal secretaries out of the possible 51, leaving out persons with disabilities,” they said.
The commission said this shows blatant disregard for the need for representation of women in Cabinet and respective ministries.
“The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the National Gender and Equality Commission, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission and the Commission on Administrative Justice need to hold the executive and legislative arms to account for their failure to uphold the Constitution,” they said.
