The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has been criticised for allegedly favouring certain communities when hiring as only two ethnic groups take the majority of jobs at the State corporation.
Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunities, AFA Director General Bruno Linyiri found it difficult to explain the ethnic imbalance within the authority, citing the absence of a human resources manual.
Nyeri Town MP Duncan Mathenge challenged Linyiri to explain the hiring criteria used by the company, pointing out that two communities reportedly dominate the authority's staff numbers.
Linyiri admitted that the authority has been operating without a human resource manual since its establishment in 2013. This, he said, has hindered compliance with laws on ethnic balance and representation of special interest groups during recruitment.
“The Authority has never had a human resource manual since inception. Our staff were only deployed. We have not employed directly. However, we received the necessary HR framework this year and plan to recruit while addressing irregularities flagged by the Auditor General,” Linyiri said.
The Authority was also accused of marginalising people living with disabilities (PLWDs) in terms of both employment and access to opportunities.
Kamkunji MP Yusuf Hassan questioned why PLWDs were mostly hired as casual staff as he accused the AFA of serial violation of labour laws.
“Your argument that lack of experience locks out PLWDs is discriminatory. How will they gain experience if they are never given opportunities?” He posed.
Narok North MP Agnes Pareyio and Nakuru County MP Liza Chelule urged AFA to work with MPs to identify qualified PLWDs in their constituencies, noting that data was readily available at the grassroots level.
Other lawmakers took issue with the absence of a human resource manual saying it had opened loopholes for management to skirt employment laws.
Mathenge directed AFA to ensure that its upcoming recruitment exercise addresses ethnic imbalance and promotes fair representation of women, youth and PLWDs.
“This is your chance to correct the anomalies and align with the constitutional principle of inclusivity,” he told Linyiri.
