Universities Academic Staff Union says varsities abetting tribalism

By Francis Ontomwa

Kenya: A lecturers’ union has petitioned the government to implement a report by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) that exposed tribalism in universities.

The Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) called for the full implementation of the Ethnic Diversity and Audit of Public Universities 2013 report.

The union accused university authorities of sweeping the findings under the carpet as things continued to go off the rails at public institutions.

The report revealed that universities had become ethnic bastions with sharp imbalances in employment in the country’s 22 public institutions, aggravated by university councils and other government organs.

“It is disturbing that despite this report receiving a lot of attention last year, things are still the same. Tribalism and nepotism have been entrenched in the system and this is why we are petitioning for full implementation of this report,” Prof Sammy Kubasu, the national UASU chairman told The Standard Wednesday.

The National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008, stipulates that no public establishment shall have more than one-third or 33 per cent of its staff from the same ethnic community.

Ethnic balance

Prof Kubasu said recommendations in the report must be taken seriously, adding that university councils, staff and lecturers ought to be reshuffled to achieve ethnic balance and reflect the face of Kenya.

“What we are seeing is rot in our varsities where top management have refused to divorce themselves from tribalism and nepotism. In some of these universities, there is a chain of relatives holding key positions and even casual posts. Things cannot continue this way,” said Prof Kubasu.

The head of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Kenya, Paul Muasya, said universities should be places of high morality, adding that education was a powerful tool for uniting the country if well employed.

“The Constitution of Kenya guarantees all Kenyans equal rights. If we go the tribal way, we will have contravened the law. Universities are the top-most organs of our education system and must not be breeding grounds for tribalism and nepotism,” said the cleric.

Bishop Joshua Koyo of the Episcopal Church of Africa, Kisumu, said it did not augur well that tribalism was allowed to thrive. He said the government must provide goodwill to ensure the report is implemented.

“If we allow the smallness of our tribal inclinations to supercede our national identity, we risk watering down all the gains we have made in our education system. Universities must embrace a national picture to allow everyone to feel represented,” said Bishop Koyo.

A 2012 survey by NCIC revealed that the ‘big five tribes’ in Kenya still had the largest number of staff employed in universities.

The audit revealed that the Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin and Kisii were the main beneficiaries of employment opportunities and their dominance was above their national population ratio.

Out of the 14,996 employees from the universities who were involved in the audit, the five communities held 12,149 jobs.