Recent audits by the Office of the Auditor-General and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission have uncovered major ethnic imbalances in hiring practices across Kenya’s public universities. The reports reveal that many institutions recruit heavily from the dominant ethnic communities in the regions where their campuses are located, raising fresh concerns about fairness and national cohesion in public sector employment.
According to the Auditor-General’s report, 19 out of Kenya’s 42 public universities show recruitment patterns that heavily favor certain ethnic groups. In many cases, the composition of staff closely mirrors the ethnic makeup of the surrounding communities.
For example, Koitalel Samoei University College in Nandi County has a workforce where the Kalenjin community accounts for 73 percent of employees. A similar pattern appears at Rongo University in Migori County, where the Luo community makes up 72 percent of the staff.
The trend continues at several other institutions. At the University of Kabianga, Mama Ngina University College, and Kaimosi Friends University, roughly 70 percent of employees belong to the locally dominant ethnic group.
The NCIC conducted a broader review covering 27,596 employees across 40 universities. Their findings show that only 11 institutions follow the National Cohesion and Integration Act, which requires public bodies to represent Kenya’s diverse communities fairly.
The commission’s data shows that six major ethnic communities dominate university employment. The Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luo, Luhya, Kamba, and Kisii collectively hold nearly 86 percent of all jobs in public universities. This leaves the remaining 29 communities to share only about 14% of the available jobs. Smaller groups, such as the Gabra, Ilchamus, Rendille, Aweer or Watta, Dorobo, and Sakuye, have almost no representation at all in university employment.
The audits also highlight a clear link between who leads a university and the ethnic makeup of its senior staff. In roughly half of the institutions reviewed, the vice-chancellor’s ethnic background matches that of the majority of the employees.
The reports specifically name several universities for having a high concentration of one ethnic group, including Moi University, Maseno University, and Kisii University. Other institutions cited for similar patterns include Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
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