The ethnic shame of public varsities

Higher Education minister Prof Margaret Kamar. Photo/FILE

What you need to know:

  • Minister orders fresh survey following revelations of gross manipulation of figures

Public universities concealed the ethnic identities of 10,000 workers in a survey meant to indicate the composition and ranking of staff from the same tribe as that of the vice-chancellors and college principals.

The institutions only supplied the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) with data on the ethnic diversity of 15,000 of a total of 25,000 employees.

But even with that, others fiddled with the numbers while the University of Nairobi and Chuka University College did not code the data in a manner in which junior workers could be identified from their seniors and their tribes indicated as required by the NCIC.

But the worst example was at Maseno University, which did not supply any information at all, even as sources indicated that more than half the workers at the institution came from the same ethnic group.

The vice-chancellor, according to the Cohesion Commission, is said to have requested more time to provide the data, arguing that he had just assumed his appointment.

Following this revelation, Higher Education minister Margaret Kamar ordered the institutions to repeat the census and said stern measures be taken against those who fabricate the information.

“This exercise shall be conducted again in the universities and their constituent colleges and accurate data is to be given to the NCIC to inform the government adequately for purposes of policy making,” Prof Kamar said.

“Institutions that are national should remain as such by reflecting the face of the nation,” she said.

Kenya has seven public universities and 15 constituent colleges with indications that there are nine mid-level colleges set for upgrade in the course of the year, according to the minister.

An initial report by NCIC had shown that the big five ethnic groups in Kenya – Kikuyu, Luhya, Kalenjin, Luo and Kamba – dominate the workforce of the centres of higher education, but there are fears that the percentages may go even higher when the new survey is conducted.

More than 80 pc

NCIC vice-chairperson Mary Onyango – while presenting the highlights of the report to Prof Kamar, assistant ministers Kilemi Mwiria and Asman Kamama and the Higher Education PS Crispus Kiamba – made the startling revelations that although the five tribes make up 66 per cent of the country’s population, they hold more than 80 per cent of the jobs in the institutions.

The report indicated that 93 per cent of the jobs at Masinde Muliro, 89.8 per cent at Moi, 87.3 per cent at Egerton, 86 per cent at Jomo Kenyatta, 82.3 per cent at Nairobi and 81.7 per cent at Kenyatta University were held by the five communities.

But that is not all. The vice- chancellors and principals of constituent colleges go ahead to appoint senior staff surrounding them from the same community as their own.

At the University of Nairobi led by Prof George Magoha and Prof Olive Mugenda’s Kenyatta University, Kikuyu employees hold 38 per cent of the positions.

But, interestingly, 42 per cent of the senior staff at KU are Kikuyu, while the UoN failed to supply data as required by the NCIC, complicating the entire process.

The Kikuyu also make up 50 per cent of the workforce at Jomo Kenyatta University where Prof Mabel Imbuga is the VC, having taken over from Prof Nick Wanjohi nearly three years ago.

The Kalenjin make up 55 per cent of the workforce at Moi University, where Prof Richard Mibey is the VC, while the Luhya make up 69 per cent at Masinde Muliro University headed by Prof Wangila Barasa.

Data from at least 10 of these institutions shows that the majority of their staff come from the same ethnic community as the vice-chancellor or principal.

Prof Kamar said the revelation that most of the senior staffers in the universities – from the rank of assistant lecturer to registrars – practised the worst form of ethnicity was the most unsettling.

“We would have expected that the junior staffers came from the same community because it would have been convenient to get cleaners and other manual workers from the immediate community,” Prof Kamar said. “But this survey shows that our professors and lecturers, actually, have the worst form of tribal inclinations.”

Further, Prof Kiamba, the PS in the High Education ministry, introduced a new twist to the report when he said that the numbers the institutions had supplied the NCIC were “grossly underestimated”.

Although he did not state the figures, a unionist said there are approximately 25,000 workers at the universities represented by lecturers, non-teaching and hospitality and domestic workers’ unions.

Of 14,996 employees in six public universities and nine constituent colleges, 4,133 were from the Kikuyu community; 2,544 Luhya; 2,133 Kalenjin; 2,086 Luo and 1,041 were Kamba.
Although Kisii take up 1,253 jobs in the institutions, they were not ranked in the report.

The NCIC Act requires that not more than a third of the workforce in public institutions should go to the same ethnic group.

A meeting between the ministry of Higher Education, NCIC and the universities has been called on Thursday next week to discuss the issue of ethnic diversity in the universities.

According to Ms Onyango, Chuka University College made it difficult for the commission to access the information on the diversity of tribes in the institution, and when it finally did, the information was incompatible to the format requested.

According to the officials the situation in the universities is actually worse than it was depicted by the initial findings of the NCIC and that is why the numbers were doctored.

Chairman of the parliamentary committee on equal opportunities Mr Mohammed Affey warned against turning universities into incubators of tribalism.

The NCIC Act requires that not more than a third of the work force in public institutions should go to the same ethnic group.

A meeting between the ministry of Higher Education, NCIC and the universities has been called on Thursday next week to discuss the issue of ethnic diversity in the universities.

Vice chancellors, their deputies, council chairpersons and principals of constituent colleges are expected attend the meeting.

Prof Kamar said that the council chairpersons in the universities will now be rotational, meaning that one can serve at any of the public institutions.

But it will be difficult to transfer the VCs, she said, because they are competitively hired unlike chairpersons or chancellors who are appointees of the ministry of Higher Education and the President, respectively.

The NCIC had recommended that top management of the universities be reshuffled and the VCs be transferred to other universities away from their current stations.

The audit also revealed that majority of the staff in the public universities and constituent colleges come from communities within which the institutions are located.

“Kenyans seem to perceive the university as a job creation enterprise for the community within which the university is located,” said the NCIC, adding that “it may be in this perspective that some regions agitate for the establishment of public universities in their areas”.

At the same time, Prof Kamar said students’ ethnic associations were to be discouraged in the universities.

“These associations are not beneficial to anyone in the institutions of higher learning except to move the agenda of politicians,” she said.

Assistant minister Kilemi Mwiria said they needed to be banned, although the Constitution provides for the freedom of association.