Kenya: Kiambu MCAs Pass Motion Seeking 70% of Jobs for Locals

Kiambu MCAs during a recent press briefing. The Kiambu County Assembly has passed a motion compelling public and private institutions and businesses operating in the region to get 70 per cent of its workforce from the dominant ethnic community. PHOTO | ERIC WAINAINA | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

Kenya: Kiambu MCAs Pass Motion Seeking 70% of Jobs for Locals

By Eric Wainaina

The Kiambu County Assembly has passed a motion compelling public and private institutions and businesses operating in the region to get 70 per cent of its workforce from the dominant ethnic

• The MCAs said a staff audit will be carried out and employers found not to have complied will be required to take action.
• Majority Leader Antony Ikonya, who moved the motion, said it was in line with Article 65 (1) (e) of the County Government Act.
• A majority of local public institutions were in breach of the requirement, said the Kiambu Town ward rep.

community.

They said that was in a bid to create employment for the local people.

The MCAs said a staff audit will be carried out and employers found not to have complied will be required to take action, failing which they will lose their operating licences.

They said most of the job opportunities available in the county, which is a cosmopolitan region due to its proximity to the capital city Nairobi, were going to “outsiders”.

Majority Leader Antony Ikonya, who moved the motion, said it was in line with Article 65 (1) (e) of the County Government Act.

But this, he said, was not the case in Kiambu.

GENEROUS

“I note with a lot of concern that Kiambu County has been generous … very generous to people who are from outside this county, to an extent that we do this at the expense of our very own,” said Mr Ikonya.

A majority of local public institutions were in breach of the requirement, said the Kiambu Town ward rep.

“For people who come from outside, we provide infrastructure for them, we do roads, provide water for them and do all the requisite responsibilities of a county government for them but, as a county, we don’t benefit (and) I think it is time we cured that disease,” Mr Ikonya told the House.

Perhaps afraid that the motion could be treated as a tribal move, Mr Ikonya said “dominant ethnic community” did not necessary mean that one must be a Kikuyu.

Seconding the motion, Ndeiya MCA Gideon Gachara said it seeks to “create employment for our people” and help them to gain wealth.

Recently, Governor Ferdinand Waititu said that to qualify to be employed within the 70pc bracket one must have proof of either they or at least one parent having been born in the county.