Luos, Kikuyus dominate jobs at Ouko office

Ouko office faces ethnic audit query

Auditor-General Edward Ouko. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By EDWIN MUTAI
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Summary

• The Luo have doubled their share of the jobs at the audit office in the eight years Mr Ouko has been at the helm.
• They held 13.79 percent of the positions in 2010.
• The Luo and Kikuyu have over the past two decades occupied the top position at the National Audit office.

Auditor-General Edward Ouko has come under scrutiny after more than a third of new hirings in his office in the eight years he has been at the helm were found to have been from his community.

Data from Auditor-General's office shows that the Luo accounted for 35.48 percent of the 916 employees hired after the passage of the new Constitution

This has seen the Kikuyu and the Luo dominate jobs with their share of employment at the public audit office growing to 53.7 percent in May, from 31 percent in 2010, squeezing out other communities from the State agency.

The jobs data on the National Audit office show that three communities, including the Kisii, are over-represented.

Under the diversity policy for State Ministries, Departments and Agencies released in December 2015 by the Public Service Commission (PSC), ethnic groups whose job representation surpasses their corresponding national population proportion are considered to be over-represented.

The policy was expected to tackle the problem of over-representation by setting hiring quotas for ethnic groups and disadvantaged classes such as the disabled.

The statistics indicate the Kikuyu is over-presented at National Audit office as the community holds 446 jobs, or 27.7 percent of the slots against their 17.15 percent share of population based on 2009 Census.

The Kisii are over-represented by 3.44 percentage point with 147 positions while the Luo has 419 positions or 26 percent of the jobs against their national population share of 10.48 percent.

The Luo have doubled their share of the jobs at the audit office in the eight years Mr Ouko has been at the helm. They held 13.79 percent of the positions in 2010.

The Luo and Kikuyu have over the past two decades occupied the top position at the National Audit office.

Chief executives of State- owned firms and agencies tend to influence the employment of cronies and kinsmen in the firms they head.

The mandate of the audit office is to promote accountability and transparency in the public sector.

Mr Ouko, an accountant appointed in 2011, will exit the stage next month with the expiry of his eight year non-