Shock of tribalism in public universities

An audit of public universities has revealed that they have become incubators of ethnicity, writes Peter Opiyo for The Standard. The institutions are in total violation of the constitution, which demands ethnic and gender balance for all public appointments.

According to the audit conducted by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, in six public universities and nine constituent colleges the majority of staff either come from the same ethnic group as the vice-chancellor, the principal or the locality of the institution. Out of the 14,996 workers in the institutions surveyed Kikuyu, Luhya, Kalenjin, Luo and Kisii dominate.

The commission noted that the five ethnic groups make up 81% of the workforce in the institutions, leaving the remaining 37 tribes to share out the rest. According to the audit presented to the parliamentary committee on equal opportunities, out of the 15 universities audited, 10 had the majority of their employees from the same ethnic group as the vice-chancellor/principal.
Full report on The Standard site