Public Service minister Dalmas Otieno (pictured) last week released a report showing Kenya's Kikuyu and Kalenjin occupy nearly a third of all civil service jobs. Kenya has over 43 tribes.
By NATION TEAM, newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Sunday, July 3 2011 at 20:55
Posted Sunday, July 3 2011 at 20:55
Kenya’s first ever government audit of the civil service has exposed shocking talent, ethnic, gender and academic imbalances.
Among the worrying statistics is that some small tribes don’t have even a single university graduate in the service, 172,914 workers have no formal qualifications at all and only 136 PhD holders are in central government employment.
The report released by Public Service minister Dalmas Otieno last week shows the Kikuyu and Kalenjin occupy nearly a third of all civil service jobs.
The two communities account for 82,001 civil servants in a pool of 217,069 employees.
The survey also highlighted the link between access to instruments of state and employment, with communities from arid areas scoring very low on all indicators — education, placement, and gender. On the other hand communities with more political and economic elite enjoyed higher representation across all levels.
Kenya’s first three Presidents — Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi and Mwai Kibaki — hail from the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities, raising the possibility that they may have used their positions to bloat the service with “their people”. However, the communities are also the most populous, and their representation could be down to the numbers.
Shame of a nation
The findings mirror an earlier survey of ministries released by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission that found the two tribes dominated the public service.
According to the Staff Audit of the Civil Service report, the Kikuyu have 48,404 members of staff, followed by the Kalenjin, 33,597 and the Luhya, 24,648.
Other communities in the top 10 are Kamba, Luo, Kisii, Meru, Miji Kenda, Embu and Taita.
On gender, only 28 per cent of civil servants are women. Similarly only four of the 48 ministries have employed more women than men. There are: Public Health (55 per cent), Medical Services (51 per cent), State Law Office (58 per cent) and Public Service Commission (59 per cent).
Out of the 49 communities represented in the civil service, 10 communities are fairly represented in terms of staff numbers and distribution across all age brackets.
The Kikuyu have the highest number of civil servants below the age of 30 years, 9,777, followed by the Kalenjin, 6,836 and Luhya, 4,816.
For staff aged between 31 and 40 years, the Kalenjin are tops at 13,001, followed by the Kikuyu, 10,429.
The Kikuyu also lead the pack among those aged 61 years and above, followed by the Kamba and Luo.
This could be partly due to the appointment of retirees (the official retirement age is 60) to plum jobs in the Executive.
For instance, head of public service Francis Muthaura, Local Government PS Karega Mutahi and PS in the Prime Minister office Mohammed Isahakia, among others, are above the retirement age.
On education, the survey found that civil servants from five communities did not have degrees.
The communities, Boni Sanye, Dasnach-Sh, Elmolo, Gosha, Hawiya, come from northern Kenya, one of the least developed parts of the country.
The Dorobo have only one member with a degree, while Gureeh and Ogaden have two and four each, respectively.
The Dorobo have only one member with a degree, while Gureeh and Ogaden have two and four each, respectively.
Overall, however the Kikuyu have the highest number of graduates, 5,039, followed by Luhya 2,532, Luo 2,248, Kalenjin 1,846, Kamba 1,813, Kisii 1,585 and Meru 989.
A total of 1,743 officers have master’s degrees, with the Kikuyu topping at 479. The Luhya have 239 master’s degree holders, Luo 230 and Kisii 228.
Ten communities do not have a single representative with a master’s degree. This include the Bonin Sanye, Dasnach-Sh, Elmolo, Gosha, Gureeh, Hawiya, Murulle, Njemos, Orma and Rendile.
Some 136 civil servants have doctoral degrees. Most of them come from the seven communities with the highest representation in the service.
The Kikuyu, with 34, top the list, followed by the Kalenjin 20, Luo 18, Luhya 14 and Kamba 11.
The Bajun, Boran, Ogaden, Degodia and Tavetta have two members, while the Burji, Gosha, Tavetta and Tharak have one.
Twenty five communities are not represented in the league of the most educated public servants.
The study was conducted to establish the human resource capacity in the Public Service, to inform on staffing levels as envisaged in the new Constitution.
The 15-member team comprised H.N. Ogega, Wangari Ndia,Nelson Weru, David Kanji, Peris Bosire, Cirindi Muriuki and Alvin Njuguna, among others.
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