- The report tabled before a parliamentary committee by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure shows that both Kalenjin and Kikuyu take up a lion's share of 5,723 and 5,335 respectively.
- Kamba and Luhya, however, follow closely with a significant number of 3,278 and 2, 891 respectively.
Kalenjin and Kikuyu have the highest number of uniformed officers in the Kenya Prisons Service (KPS), a report has shown.
The report tabled before a parliamentary committee by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure shows that both Kalenjin and Kikuyu take up a lion's share of 5,723 and 5,335 respectively.
Kamba and Luhya, however, follow closely with a significant number of 3,278 and 2, 891 respectively.
In total, there are 31, 227 officers out of which 23,878 are male officers 7,359 of the opposite gender.
Kisii on its part has 2, 536 whereas Luo has 2, 684.
Ethnicities with the lowest representation are Rendile (62), Orma (75), Taveta (39) and Dorobo (27) among others.
Elmolo has (3), Kenya European (1) and Kenya Arab (1).
The composition of the officers from lower to senior level indicates that junior officers account for 28,955 which is the rank between constable to senior sergeant while those in the middle level (inspector to chief inspector) are 1,673.
Those who have attained the ranks from superintendent to Commissioner General are 599.
Until August 2010, the report reveals, there was a total of 20,847 officers with Kalenjins dominating at 4,184 as Kikuyu followed with 3,676.
Luhya came third with 2,097, Luo (1,709), Kisii (1,438) and Meru (1,163).
In the last three recruitments in 2019, 2020 and 2022, some 7, 161 officers were enlisted into the service where the three most populous communities also got the highest opportunities.
Kindiki appeared to explain the number of prison officers in terms of gender, ethnicity and age and the extent to which the prison service has complied with the Constitution on the allocation of 30 per cent of procurement opportunities to persons with disabilities under (AGPO).
The Committee is chaired by Mandera West MP Aden Haji Yussuf.
He was quick to defend the imbalances in the job opportunities even as he assured, they are going to relook at the inclusivity not only in prison but also in the police service during the upcoming recruitment.
Responding to questions from members, the CS cautioned against criminalizing other communities that are larger than others.
"I will sit with my team, we have to comply but we do not want to have other communities feel excluded," he stated.
He added:
"We will have the populous communities get more positions and at the same ensure that minority groups are also allocated slots than getting zero," he said.
Committed to ending corruption in the recruitment in all departments within the Ministry of Interior.
On rampant corruption during recruitment, CS Kindiki said they are reassessing their anti-corruption strategy despite the challenges in seeking to combat it.
“It is a bit difficult but I want to assure the members of this committee that we shall end it, we also want to encourage members of the public to give us information,” he said.
He added;
“We shall sit with the commissioner general and the principal secretary to see what we can do.”On the implementation of the 30 per cent procurement opportunities, Kindiki admitted to having challenges citing a reduction in budgetary allocation and undue influence in the procurement process.
He stated that save for 2020-21, they have not been able to comply due to Covid-19 outbreaks of proxies by bidders who do not qualify under these categories and non-performance of the awarded tenders, contracts and quotations due to lack of financing are the other causes.
He however proposed more allocation to the institution to meet this and customer sensitization of bides that fall under the category.
“We need to mitigate the use of proxies, proper due diligence should always be done on the applicants,” he submitted.