The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has directed the government to freeze funds that are to be disbursed to counties and other public institutions that have never adopted ethnic diversity in their staffing.
In a radical proposal, NCIC seeks to work with the Commissions for Revenue Allocation and the national treasury to have funding for such counties pegged on ethnic diversity in their entire staffing.
"We are recommending that the allocation formula of public funds to all the 47 counties should take into consideration the ethnic diversity provision. This is expected to see counties that lack ethnic diversification in their public service boards lose a certain percentage of the allocated funds," stated Commissioner Naituli Gitile.
Naituli said recent surveys conducted by NCIC disclosed that only 17 of 47 counties had commendably complied with the NCIC Act of 2008 that stipulates provisions on ethnic diversity in public service boards.
The proposal is aimed at improving ethnic diversity in the counties, which is said to have been flagged for and tribal appointments and ethnic imbalance. Naituli added that the surveys conducted had further revealed worrying trends in public educational institutions, with some employing up to 90 percent of staff from just one community.