Committee Chairman and nominated MP, Mohamed Affey expressed shock at the turn of events and called for policy changes to reverse the trend.
"I am depressed with the findings of the audit because it appears the universities are becoming incubators of ethnicity," said Affey.
Only Egerton University, Multi-Media University College and Mombasa Polytechnic University College have complied with the NCIC Act that requires public institutions to have not more than a third of their work force from one ethnic group.
Egerton has Kikuyu at 25.9 per cent, Multi Media College has Kikuyu at 20 per cent (Kikuyu) while Mombasa Polytechnic has the local Miji Kenda constituting 28.1 per cent of its work force.
Laisamis MP, Joseph Lekuton and NCIC Chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia called for tougher sanctions against universities that openly pack the institutions with workers from one tribe, as Affey called on the Ministry of Higher Education to shuffle VCs in a bid to address the problem.
NCIC Vice Chairman Mary Onyango attributed the worrying trend to perception by Kenyans that universities are job creation enterprises for their communities.
"Kenyans seem to perceive the university as a job creation enterprise for the community within which the university is located. It may be in this perspective that some regions agitate for the establishment of public universities in their areas," said Ms Onyango.
The Committee and the Commission agreed to develop a draft Bill to provide for inclusive employment, which will see one body take up recruitment for all public universities.
In the audit, universities located within ethnically mixed areas elicit assorted symptoms with some kind of ÂeinformalÂf balance between two or three communities, according to the audit.
For instance, Egerton University in Njoro, Nakuru has 28.9 per cent from the Kikuyu community and 25.8 per cent from the Kalenjin Community. On the other hand, Multimedia University in Ongata Rongai has 25 per cent of its employees from the Kikuyu community, 21 per cent from the Luhya community and 20 per cent from the Luo community.
The audit also reveals that the representation of the majority of senior staff at the universities and constituent colleges is consistent with the representation of the majority ethnic community at the institutions.
"Out of the nine institutions that submitted the grades of their employees, five have the percentages of the highest ethnic community in their employment reduced among the senior staff.
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