Serious ethnic imbalance in hiring at public universities has been uncovered in new reports that raise concern about fairness in recruitment within institutions of higher learning.
Findings by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission show that several universities have heavily favoured dominant local communities when employing staff, leaving many minority groups with little or no representation.
The reports indicate that the problem affects at least 19 out of the country’s 42 public universities. According to the audit, hiring in these institutions has largely been influenced by the ethnic communities living around them, resulting in clear patterns where one group holds the majority of jobs.
The analysis further shows that about ten minority ethnic communities have no representation in the employment records of public universities. This has raised fresh concern about whether public institutions are observing constitutional principles on equal opportunity and diversity.
Communities that hold a large share of jobs in the universities include the Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luo, Luhya, Kamba and Kisii. On the other hand, smaller communities such as the Gabra, Ilchamus (Njemps), Rendille, Aweer or Watta, Dorobo and Sakuye appear among those with the lowest representation. Other minority communities listed as missing from the workforce in these institutions include the Dahalo, Konso, Gosha, Promo, Makonde and Malakote.
“Analysis of staff payrolls across public universities revealed that 19 of the 42 institutions did not comply with the provisions of Section 7(1) and (2) of the National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008, which requires that no more than one-third of staff in any public establishment should come from a single community,” reads part of the report for the financial year ending June 30, 2024.
“The affected universities recorded dominant ethnic representation levels ranging from 45 per cent to 73 per cent, indicating notable shortcomings in upholding the principles of diversity, equity and fair representation,” the report adds.
The audit also shows that the share of jobs held by certain communities in some universities has gone beyond 70 per cent. This includes positions across different levels of employment, including senior management, which goes against the legal requirement that no single ethnic community should occupy more than one-third of positions in a public institution.
“In the circumstances, management of the universities were in breach of the law,” the Auditor-General states.
Among the universities highlighted in the findings is Koitalel Samoei University College, which has around 100 employees. The report shows that 73 per cent of the workers come from the Kalenjin community, which is the dominant group in the region, while the remaining 27 per cent are drawn from other communities.
At Rongo University in Migori County, employees from the Luo community make up 72 per cent of the workforce. The rest, representing 28 per cent, are drawn from other ethnic groups.
A similar pattern is seen at the University of Kabianga in Kericho County where members of the Kalenjin community account for about 70 per cent of the 451 teaching and non-teaching staff.
Other institutions with around 70 per cent of their employees coming from the dominant local community include Mama Ngina University College, where the Kikuyu community holds the majority of jobs, and Kaimosi Friends University where most workers belong to the Luhya community.
In the Nyanza region, staff from the Luo community form the largest group at Maseno University and Tom Mboya University, representing 66 per cent and 61 per cent of employees respectively.
Moi University also recorded a high concentration of staff from one community, with at least 64 per cent of its 2,739 employees drawn from the Kalenjin community. At Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, the majority of employees belong to the Kikuyu community, while the Luhya community forms the largest share of staff at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.
At Kisii University, members of the local community account for 65 per cent of employees.
Other universities where the dominant local communities hold the largest share of jobs include Machakos University with 60 per cent, University of Eldoret with 60 per cent, Garissa University with 60 per cent, Murang'a University of Technology with 58 per cent, and South Eastern Kenya University with 51 per cent.
The list also includes Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology at 45 per cent, Laikipia University at 35 per cent, and the Technical University of Kenya at 32 per cent representation by dominant communities.
Overall, the data shows that six major ethnic communities collectively control close to three quarters of all jobs in the 19 universities examined in the report.
A separate assessment by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission titled The Ethnic and Diversity Audit of Parastatals 2025 and The Ethnic and Diversity Audit of Public Universities 2025 also highlights similar patterns, pointing to persistent ethnic imbalance in hiring across public institutions.
