The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) wants members of public university councils reshuffled to reflect ethnic balance in the entire varsities employment.
The commission's Ethnic Diversity and Audit of Public Universities 2013 report reveals that there are still ethnic imbalances in employment in 22 public universities.
University Councils are the powerful organ in decision making and employment of staff, and NCIC wants the 'tribal-stuffed or cartel-like organs' reshuffled to achieve ethnic balance.
NCIC chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia has asked the Ministry of Education to carry out the reshuffle.“Whilst doing this, the ministry will allow those members whose terms are about to end to complete those terms,” the study recommends.
It adds that the ministry will negotiate with other members for transfer to other universities or early retirement.“This exercise should start immediately but should be completed in three years with annual monitoring of progress by the ministry and NCIC,” the report said.
Chancellors in public universities raised the issue of ethnic imbalance with the then Ministry of Higher Education in 2010. The NCIC recommendation coincides with the new Commission of University Education (CUE) Act which gave new charters to all universities last year.
Under the Act, all councils are to remain in office for six months after the CUE Act was established last year before new councils are appointed by the Secretary of Education.
The survey revealed that the 'big five tribes' in Kenya still have the largest number of staff employed in universities. The survey was done when Kenya still had seven public universities and their 16 constituent colleges which have now been upgraded to 22 public universities. A total of 19,205 employees responded to the survey.
Kikuyu comprise 25.8 percent of all the employees followed by Luo (16.6 percent), Luhya (16.5) while Kalenjin, Kisii and Kamba make up 14.6, 7.5 and 6.4 percent of the work force in universities respectively.
The National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008 stipulates that no public establishment shall have more than one-third or 33 percent of its staff from the same ethnic community.
“What is important to note is the fact that the amalgamated sum of employees in the public universities in Kenya does not violate the provision of the Act,” the report said.
The data reveals that some universities have a higher representation in public universities than their population ration as per the 2009 census. “In a country where some communities cite historic injustices, excluding them from working in universities causes more disunity than other factors,” the report warns.
Maseno at 96.7, Masinde Muliro (93 percent) and Moi (91 percent) are the universities that have the highest percentages of the big five communities. They are followed by Egerton (87.3 percent), Jomo Kenyatta (85.6 percent), University of Nairobi (82.3) and Kenyatta University with 81.7 percent.
Location of a university also means that that local ethnic community gets more employment. In this category Bondo, Meru and Kisii lead while the Technical University of Kenya, Technical University of Mombasa and Egerton have the least locals employed.
New universities are perceived as job creation enterprises, thus increase to calls of establishing public universities in regions. The study said: “Universities are national institutions that admit students from all parts of the country and therefore their recruitment (staff) should be national as well.”
The study says that only Egerton, Multimedia, Mombasa Polytechnic and Technical University of Kenya have complied with the National Cohesion and Integration Act, not to employ more than one-third of its staff from the same ethnic.
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