Members of Parliament want all the senior management of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) suspended for failing to comply with the law of ethnic diversity in their staffing.

The National Assembly Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunities, which is chaired by Mandera East MP Adan Haji, noted that the management of the Eldoret-based referral hospital must be held responsible for ethnic imbalance in its workforce.

A report tabled before the committee by MTRH Chief Executive Officer Dr Philip Kirwa showed that 67 per cent of the staff in the facility were from one community.

The session was chaired by Mwingi North MP Paul Nzengu.

“The report before the committee shows that the hospital management has not made any attempt to balance ethnicity in its staffing establishment,” said Nzengu, noting that the fact that management did not ensure job-seekers from other communities benefitted indicates that they are not willing to comply with the law.

Kasipul MP Charles Were noted with disappointment that despite Eldoret city being a cosmopolitan urban area, other communities living there were denied job opportunities by MTRH.

“Eldoret has the face of Kenya and it is unfair that the management of MTRH cannot take advantage of these to ensure that all communities get a share of jobs in the facility,” he lamented.

Nyeri Town MP Duncan Mathenge said that hospital was a national facility that should have the face of Kenya in its workforce.

“MTRH is a hospital that serves the whole country and not a particular region. It is wrong for the facility to ignore the law in employment and favour the local community in hiring staff,” he added.

Mathenge noted that as a committee responsible for ensuring cohesiveness and equal opportunity prevails in the country, the National Assembly must correct the rot at the facility. He cautioned that institutions such as MTRH, which promote tribalism in provision of job opportunities are the government entities portraying the image of the state negatively.

Ethnic imbalance

Shinyalu MP Fred Ikana expressed concern that the hospital’s management has not lived to its word despite promising the committee in previous meetings that they would correct ethnic imbalance in employment of staff. He recalled that the CEO met the committee 15 months ago and assured MPs that he would ensure ethnic balance in the workforce.

“It is surprising that even in the last staff recruitment they hired a majority from the local community,” he said.

Baringo South MP Charles Kamuren expressed shock that even his members in the neighbouring community were not considered in employment.

“We are neighbours but when it comes to employment, MTRH does not consider us. This is wrong because we pay taxes just like other Kenyans and we deserve opportunities at the facility,” he said.

Teso North MP Oku Kaunya said the committee should stamp its authority by taking stern action to stop the management from failing to comply with the law and dragging the country behind in the war against tribalism.

Responding to the concerns raised by the committee, Dr Kirwa said the management was doing its best to deal with ethnic imbalance, which he noted was historical.

“You are aware that I am new at the helm and most of the anomalies are historical. We are doing our best to correct them,” he said.

However, the committee noted that the blame should be on the management, which they noted that has a say in hiring of staff.

They resolved that since it had failed in its mandate, management should be held responsible.

The committee had also held accountability meetings with CEOs of Lake Victoria South Water Works Development Agency, Lake Basin Development Authority, Lake Victoria North Water Works Development Agency, Rivatex East Africa and South Nyanza Sugar Company (SONY).

The Committee established that all agencies had not complied with the law that requires 5 per cent of their staff should be people living with disabilities.

Most of the government agencies had also not complied with procurement law that required them to give opportunities to Youth and PLWDs.