It's high time we went the lottery way in allocating public sector jobs

A youth takes part in a past police recruitment exercise. Certain big tribes are known to dominate the police force and other disciplined forces. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

There is an annual ritual where the Public Service Commission shares statistics on the number of government jobs taken by various Kenyan tribes, nowadays called communities. 

The data shows the percentage of tribes in the civil service against their percentage in the general population. 

A court case this year made the statistics more visible. Will the recruitment in the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) be reversed? 

My hunch is that they will simply recruit more Kenyans to take care of other tribes. It’s unlikely the current job holders will lose their jobs.  

These statistics would upset any citizen, they portray a lopsided recruitment in the civil service favouring some tribes over others. 

History can partly explain the current skewness in recruitment. Proximity to economic and political power made it easier for some tribes to access education and by extension jobs. 

With the liberalisation of the economy, this could become intergenerational.  

If your parents got a good education, you will probably get a good education, irrespective of your intellectual ability.  The networks you have made balance out your deficit in intellect or IQ. 

Think of a citizen whose grandfather and father are graduates and worked through several governments or corporations. 

There is a good reason to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), to sound American. 

We must take care of those left behind by history, economic and political reality. They will always be with us. Countries, counties and corporations that embrace DEI are more stable; they are also more innovative and dynamic. 

When citizens feel included and have access to opportunities and jobs, there is more social stability, patriotism, and productivity. 

Some could ask: why not just use meritocracy? Jobs should be rationed based on our academic performance and maybe IQ. And we can get objective data on that through national exams and aptitude tests.   

But unfortunately, a majority of schools have no facilities or teachers. Even intelligent kids will not perform to their optimal in exams. 

Have you noted the Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education (KCSE) students who qualify to join universities despite low Kenya Certificate for Primary Education (KCPE) scores? That clearly shows the environment matters in school performance.    

That is why the government comes in through DEI to ensure no one is left behind.  

If we allow the market to allocate socioeconomic opportunities, inequalities will increase with subsequent political and social instability. 

One could argue persuasively that by paying taxes and voting, we become shareholders, with access to government jobs and other services.

This is what makes DEI controversial; those who often benefit from DEI may not have paid taxes or voted.

What if the government is not fair and fails to ensure DEI? After all, the skewed recruitment in KRA was done through the government or its agencies. 

Courts have come in to remedy that. After the 2017 presidential polls were nullified, Kenyans saw courts as the last bastion against the excesses of the Legislature (Parliament) and the Executive. 

We love blaming others for our failures, and the government may not be objective. 

Politics is about self-interest and fairness often comes last. Why not use a simple and effective tool to ensure fairness in the allocation of government jobs in counties, national government and their agencies?   

Why not use the lottery system? We are all familiar with the lottery and its cousin – betting. Why not get all the qualified candidates for any public office and use the lottery to pick the candidates? 

Say we have 100 vacancies and 10,000 applicants. If 2,000 of them satisfy the basic requirements put their names in a drum and pick the 100 randomly. 

We do that in the lottery and rarely does anyone complain. You could use a computer programme or better, artificial intelligence (AI) to pick from the list. We never complain when we are never picked in a lottery. It’s fair and everyone has an equal chance of being picked. Since applicants will come from all over the country, the tribal statistics will naturally balance. 

Some very complicated problems have very easy solutions! There will be no godfathers, no brokers. 

Those selected through this method will be very motivated, they will owe no allegiance to anyone except their employer or institution, not individuals.   

One reason many employees in the public sector never work is because they have a “protector” somewhere. 

Many CEOs would lose power if the lottery system is used. Hiring is one expression of power. 

That should not make us lose sleep. The employers picked through the lottery would be more empowered, working without the long shadow of fear. 

We would have a more productive and patriotic workforce, and the whole country would gain in the long run. 

We would replace “who got you the job” with “how you got the job.” Over to the Public Service Commission and other employers.   

Let’s be parsimonious and use statistics to solve a statistical problem!