Busia High Court has declared the appointment of 1,406 revenue services assistants by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) unconstitutional after it emerged that it favoured particular ethnic groups.
A judgement rendered by Justice William Musyoka found that the recruitment conducted by KRA in June 2023 was illegal as it favoured Kikuyu and Kalenjin, tribes that should have been entitled to 32% of the slots.
The judge said others (41 tribes) merited 68% of the slots, but that was not the case as most areas got as few as one appointee.
“Without clear policy guidelines on these matters, the Kenya Revenue Authority is likely to engage in another recruitment with similar results, something which would entrench a staff establishment heavily skewed in favour of some communities, to the disadvantage of other communities, a situation which would not reflect the aspiration of Kenyans,” Justice Musyoka said.
The case was filed by Peter Orogo who sued KRA and Attorney General over 785 of 1,406 positions, which he said did not meet ethnic diversity. It is at the back of this that Justice Musyoka found the recruitment unconstitutional.
“I am not invited to nullify the recruitment, but to access whether the process whether the process of that recruitment met the standards in Article 234 of the Constitution… I find that there was non-compliance, the consequence would be that the recruitment was done in a manner that violated the Constitution, and would be invalid,” he said.
Additionally, he barred the Board Chairman of KRA and its Commissioner General from proceeding with the process of recruiting and appointing staff at all levels until the constitutional threshold of ethnic diversity and regional balance is met.
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