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Opposition leaders under the Azimio la Umoja coalition now want officers who took part in the skewed recruitment of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officers to be surcharged to cover the salaries paid to wrongfully recruited staff.

In a statement yesterday, the coalition also warned KRA against using taxpayers’ money to appeal against the ruling that nullified the recruitment of 1,406 revenue service assistants.

National Assembly Minority Leader and Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi said they have a duty to keep KRA on its toes and ensure it complies with the ruling.

Wandayi said following the wrongful exercise, it is only prudent to conduct audit of the entire government ethnic diversity and regional balance policy.

“Most importantly, probe into the recruitment malpractices in the Kenya Kwanza public service must be extended to all institutions, departments, ministries and agencies.”

Wandayi said it would be laughable for the government to claim, as it did in court, that the recruitment resulted from aptitude tests in which only members of two ethnic communities passed.

He argued that if indeed it is true as the government claimed in court; then it confirms that more than 45 communities have given up on Kenya and do not believe they stand a chance in jobs.

“In such circumstances, we would have no country to talk about. This, therefore, is an extremely grave matter that must be addressed as such and with the urgency and seriousness it deserves.” He continued:

“We want an audit into all key bodies and sectors where we have reason to suspect very skewed recruitment has been underway especially in the last two years.”

His sentiments come hardly two days after the court nullified the recruitment of 1,406 revenue service assistants by KRA.

Justice William Musyoka ruled that the exercise, which was conducted by KRA last year, was heavily skewed in favour of the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities to the disadvantage of others.

Two communities

He further said the explanation by KRA that the two communities got more slots because of their high number of applications was not supported by statistics.

Judge said going by the 2019 population census, the Kikuyu constituted 18 per cent of the total Kenyan population, while Kalenjin were 14 per cent.

“A declaration that the June 2023 recruitment of the 1,406 revenue service assistants was unconstitutional, as it offends the preamble to the Constitution and provisions of Articles 10, 27, 56 and 32 (g)(h)(i) of the Constitution.”

Wandayi, who demanded for a thorough scrutiny of all recruitment going on at the moment, said it is evident that the law on diversity and inclusion in public service is consistently being flouted and tribalism given free reign without a sense of shame or guilt by the Kenya Kwanza regime.

“Kenyans will recall that none other than the Deputy President himself had not-long-ago likened Kenya to a private company in which some people have more shares than others and some have none. If Kenyans thought this was a joke that would not mean much, the courts have now confirmed that it is actually a quasi-official policy whose implementation is on-going,” the lawmaker said.

“Millions of young Kenyans are being denied jobs they are qualified for because of their ethnic origin and perceived political affiliation. There is, for example, an assumption that every Luo voted for Raila Odinga and that to vote for Raila Odinga is to be anti-government and unpatriotic.

“That assumption extends to people from ODM and Azimio strongholds like the Coast, Western, Lower Eastern, Nairobi Gusiiland, and many parts of Rift Valley, among others,” he said further.