Ethnic balance rule in counties untenable: Rutto

PHOTO | FILE Chairman of the Council of Governors Isaac Rutto speaks during a meeting with governors at the Kenya Institute of Administration in Nairobi on August 12, 2013.   NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• According to the law, 30pc of county jobs should go to minority groups
• The commission says it has begun an audit of all jobs in the counties to ensure that at least 30 per cent has gone to minority groups as provided for in the guidelines on the minimum standards and principles for recruitment at the county level.

By KENFREY KIBERENGE
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Governors are headed for a clash with the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) over lack of ethnic balance in appointments in their counties.

The commission says it has begun an audit of all jobs in the counties to ensure that at least 30 per cent has gone to minority groups as provided for in the guidelines on the minimum standards and principles for recruitment at the county level.

“The audit report will be out by mid-February,” said Mr Kyalo Mwengi, NCIC’s acting assistant director in charge of complaints, legal and enforcement.

The minority groups include people living with disabilities, smaller communities and women.

But Bomet Governor Isaac Rutto, who chairs the Council of Governors, dismissed the threat, saying the demands are impractical. Mr Rutto argued that the 30 per cent rule should be met in the medium-term and not instantly.

“There are counties that are almost mono-ethnic. What do you do in such a situation, and the neighbouring counties are probably from the same ethnic group?” he asked.

“Some of the things they are talking about may not be realistic. When you advertise they don’t apply; what do you do? Do you just stop recruiting? They need to give us a guideline on how to do it; where there are no applications, do we leave the 30 per cent vacant?”

Mr Mwengi warned that chairmen of county public service boards found to have flouted the law will be removed from office.

“But, ultimately, the governors will also have an issue because the buck stops with them,” he said.

Mr Mwengi said members of county assemblies also have a responsibility to ensure the legal requirements are met.

THE 30 PER CENT RULE

In a paid-up advertisement on Friday, the commission called on the public to provide information on counties they feel have violated the law. The counties have been hiring staff without considering the 30 per cent rule, but Mr Mwengi says this has to be corrected.

But Governor Rutto said the rule could be met when new workers are being hired because most of the county employees were already in the civil service under the national government.

“We will try as much as possible to absorb those that are agreeable to join the county service; if they are not, then there is little we can do about that,” he said.