Probe Demanded Over Unlawful Recruitment

NAIROBI – The outgoing leadership of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) is under intense scrutiny following allegations of irregularly and forcefully hiring 22 new staff members just weeks before their tenure expired. The revelations, which emerged during a session of the Senate's Standing Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity and Regional Integration on Monday, 17 November 2025, have prompted calls for a full-scale investigation by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).

NCIC Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Giti, who took office on 1 April 2025, testified before the committee that he was pressured by the outgoing commissioners to proceed with the recruitment despite his repeated warnings that the process was unlawful. "They put me under pressure to employ since I was new in the Commission. It was a resolution of the commissioners and not the entire organisation," Giti told the senators. He stated that his advice and that of the secretariat were disregarded, with commissioners arguing that as an independent body, the NCIC could "do whatever it wants."

Flagrant Disregard for Procedure

According to the testimony, the 22 individuals began work on 1 September 2025, filling positions at the Nairobi headquarters and various regional offices. Crucially, these vacancies for roles including programme officer, librarian II, and clerical officer I were never publicly advertised, a direct violation of standard public service recruitment procedures. The Public Service Commission Act mandates that vacancies in public office must be advertised widely through newspapers, broadcast media, and official websites to ensure a fair and transparent process for all Kenyans.

Instead, the commissioners reportedly opted to consider only unsolicited applications that had been physically submitted within the previous six months. The commission's own head of legal affairs confessed to the committee that he was never consulted on the matter and only became aware of the irregular hiring during the Senate hearing.

The situation was further complicated by inconsistencies in the number of recruits. Initially, the plan was to hire 20 staff, but two additional individuals were later added to the list without explanation, a move that raised further integrity concerns among the senators.

Senate Committee Takes Action

The Senate committee, chaired by Marsabit Senator Mohamed Chute, reacted strongly to the revelations. Senator Chute condemned the NCIC, an institution mandated to audit other public bodies for compliance, for engaging in such a flawed process itself. "Will I be wrong if I say you denied other Kenyans the opportunity to be employed in order to employ your relatives and friends?" he posed to the NCIC leadership.

Nominated Senator Consolata Nabwire called for immediate and decisive action, stating, "We should as a committee declare this recruitment null and void and let the EACC swing into action." The committee has ordered the immediate cancellation of the 22 contracts and has summoned the former commissioners to appear on Tuesday, 18 November 2025, to provide an explanation for their actions. The outgoing commission was led by Chairperson Samuel Kobia and included Vice-Chairperson Dorcas Kedogo, and commissioners Philip Okundi, Abdulaziz Ali Farah, Danvas Makori, Sam Kona, and Wambui Nyutu.

A Crisis of Credibility

This scandal erupts at a precarious time for the NCIC, an institution whose core mandate is to foster national unity and combat ethnic discrimination. The irony of the entity responsible for overseeing ethnic and regional balance in public employment being embroiled in a nepotism scandal has not been lost on observers. The controversy also coincides with a recent NCIC report highlighting severe ethnic imbalances across state corporations, where five major communities occupy over 70% of all jobs. This context makes the allegations of irregular hiring particularly damaging to the commission's credibility.

The Interior Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, had already declared the positions of the eight commissioners vacant in a notice dated 4 November 2025, initiating the process of appointing a new leadership team. The unfolding investigation will now cast a long shadow over this transition, placing immense pressure on the incoming commissioners to restore public trust and ensure strict adherence to the principles of fairness, transparency, and meritocracy that the NCIC is meant to champion.