A new audit has revealed ethnic disparities among employees in the office of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu’s report found that 46% of the workforce came from a single ethnic community.
According to the report, Gachagua’s office had a total of 542 employees, of whom 249 belonged to the same ethnic group.
“The Office of the Deputy President had five hundred and forty-two (542) employees, out of which two hundred and forty-nine (249), or 46% of the total number of employees, were from one ethnic community,” the report stated.
This was contrary to Sections 7(1) and 7(2) of the National Cohesion and Integration Act (NCIA), 2008, which provides guidelines on human resources and personnel in public offices.
Under this Act, all public establishments must reflect the diversity of the Kenyan people in their staffing, and no public institution should have more than one-third (⅓) of its employees from the same ethnic community.
However, the audit does not specify which ethnic community was involved.
The report also highlights non-compliance with the minimum net salary rule in the same office.
A review of the office’s payroll revealed that 42 staff members received a net salary of less than one-third (⅓) of their basic salary during various months of the year.
This was in violation of Section 19(3) of the Employment Act, 2007, which states that total deductions made by an employer from an employee’s wages or salary should not exceed two-thirds (⅔) of their earnings.
Gachagua was impeached in 2024 on five counts of “gross violation” of the Constitution, including engaging in ethnically divisive politics and intimidating judges.
He became the first deputy president to be impeached and removed from office since Kenya adopted impeachment provisions in its 2010 Constitution.
