Governor Ndathi terms NCIC report on ethnicity inadequate

Kirinyaga Governor, Joseph Ndathi, has dismissed a report by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) that his county government has employment staff from only one ethnic group.

In a report Monday, October 3, NCIC indicated that Kirinyaga and Nandi County Assemblies employed staff from single ethnicities.

Speaking at his Kianyaga home in Gichugu Monday evening, Ndathi said that he is not responsible for the employment of the people from the same ethnic community in his county adding that he absorbed the employees from the defunct municipal and county councils.

“When I came to power, I found these people already employed by the then municipal council. I was informed that I had no authority to fire or transfer them but to absorb them into the county government,” said the seemingly angry Ndathi.

The Governor further claimed that the County Government of Kirinyaga has employed close to 2,800 people since 2013, most of whom he claims are from other ethnicities in the country.

“We always do job advertisements on our website and on the daily newspapers. This means that the opportunities are open for people from all over the country and we offer employment based on merit.”

Ndathi asked NCIC chair, Francis ole Kaparo, to first visit the counties and get the facts right before filing a report.

The audit by NCIC revealed that only 15 counties out of the 47 adhered to County Governments Act by recruiting at least thirty percent of their employees from the non-dominant ethnic groups in their regions.