40pc of Kenya Power staff are Kikuyu, Kalenjin » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 22 – More than three quarters of the 10,515 employees at Kenya Power belong to five communities with Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities attributing to 40 percent of the work force.
New data released before the Senate Committee on National Cohesion and Integrity also showed that Kenya Power has failed to comply with the two gender rule in recruiting employees.
The House Committee chaired by Marsabit Senator Mohammed Chute found the agency culpable of violating the constitution in regards to fairness on distribution of employment.
In the data unveiled before Senators,Kikuyu community accounts for 2423 of its employees, the Kalejin (1798) , the Luo (1350),Luhya community (1290) and Kisii Community (995) all totaling to 75 percent the Kenya Power workforce.
“What criteria do you use to employ workforce?Why are we taking our children to school?This country is not taking the right direction if this is the trend,”said Tharaka Nithi Senator Mwenda Gataya.
In his defence,Kenya Power Managing Director Joseph Siror attributed the employment disparity in terms of gender to historical issues expressing that subsequently his management will change the trend.
“Going forward it’s our commitment to see what we can do.We will encourage the minority to apply. From where we sit,it’s not discrimination,”he said.
On the two-thirds gender rule compliance,the state agency performed dismally following details females account to 2,227 employees (21.18%) while their male counterpart are 8,288 (78.82%).
MD Siror explained Kenya Power being a technical organisation there’s been limited pool of women applying for the advertised post.
He disclosed that less than 10 percent of female applicants apply for the post which leads to low representation of women in the workforce.
“There’s a limited pool of qualified women candidates for techinical positions. The kind of work we do in the field its a bit rough and some females may not be attracted,”Siror stated.
The state agency was also found guilty of violating Article 54 of the constitution which mandates the inclusion of at least five per cent of staff in government institutions as people with disabilities.
In the documents tabled before the committee,Kenya Power has employed 143 staff as people living with disabilities which account to 1.36 percent of the total staff.
Senator Chute insisted it was unfortunate that Kenya Power was among the list of parastatals with the lowest number of PWD employees.
“This is the organisation with the minimum number of PWD.A tea girl can be a PWD,why is this the case at Kenya Power?”he posed.
Lamu Senator Joseph Kamau added,””Why have you not complied with the law when it comes to complying with the law on people living with disability. What are you preparing to do when it comes to compliance? “
The Kenya Power MD pointed out the challenge of bulk of their work being field work though moving forward they will progressively promote employment of PWDs.
“We want to encourage people living with disabilities to apply.We are even restructuring our offices to make it more conducive for persons living with disabilities,”Siror stated.
“Close to 80 percent of our work is in the field so that one of the factors that we would like to take cognizant of,”he added.
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