Just seven ethnic communities occupy nearly eight in every 10 board positions in Kenya’s state corporations, exposing a stark imbalance in public appointments despite constitutional provisions promoting diversity, a new audit has revealed.
The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) found that 79 per cent of board members serving in state corporations come from seven communities — Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luhya, Luo, Kisii, Kamba and Meru — leaving more than 30 other ethnic groups to share the remaining 21 per cent of appointments.
According to the 2025 Audit of State Corporation Boards and Top Management Report, the Kikuyu community has the highest representation with 422 board members, accounting for 22.84 per cent of all appointments.
The Kalenjin community follows with 284 members, representing 15.37 per cent, while the Luhya community occupies 202 positions, equivalent to 10.93 per cent.
The Luo community has 185 board members, making up 10.01 per cent of the total, followed by the Kisii community with 146 members or 7.9 per cent.
The Kamba community accounts for 123 board positions, representing 6.66 per cent, while the Meru community holds 99 positions or 5.36 per cent.
Together, the seven communities account for nearly four out of every five board appointments across Kenya’s state corporations.
The audit shows the Kenyan-Somali community is the next most represented with 87 board members, representing 4.69 per cent.
The Maasai community has 58 members, or 3.14 per cent, while the Turkana and Embu communities each account for 21 board members, representing 1.14 per cent.
Taita has 18 board members, while Samburu and Mijikenda each have 17.
Borana accounts for 12 board members, while Kenyan Asians and the Teso community each have 11 representatives.
Several other communities have fewer than 10 members on state corporation boards.
These include the Giriama and Gabbra communities with 10 members each, Kenyan Europeans with eight, and the Kuria, Digo, Rendille and Nandi communities with seven members each.
The Bajuni and Swahili communities each have six representatives, while Kenyan Arabs have five.
The Mbeere and Pokot communities each account for four board members.
Tharaka, Pokomo, Sabaot/Kony/Bong’omek and Suba each have three representatives.
The Kauma, Kipsigis, Burji and Orma communities each have two board members.
At the bottom of the list are several communities represented by just one board member each. They include the Duruma, Walwana/Malakote, Kabras, Rabai, Amu, Marakwet, Chonyi, Kenyan American, Nubi, Tugen, Ogiek, Kisa and Jibana communities.
The findings highlight uneven ethnic distribution in appointments to state corporation boards, with a small number of communities dominating leadership positions while many others remain minimally represented.
The audit covered 202 out of 3,432 state corporations.
Two hundred and sixty-four (264) state corporations were emailed a circular requesting they provide data on members of their boards and top management using a standard template developed by the Commission.
NGEC says 202 State Corporations responded equivalent to a response rate of 77%. Other agencies did not respond due to various reasons, including that they were implementing a transition and reform agenda, including mergers and /or dissolutions.
The information requested included disaggregation by sex, age, disability status and ethnicity of board members and top management staff as of March 2025.
The commission urged appointing authorities to take deliberate steps to make state corporation boards more inclusive.
It recommended that cabinet secretaries responsible for appointing board members ensure gender balance and other aspects of inclusion when selecting alternate members to represent them on state corporation boards.
The commission said such appointments should take into account the existing composition of boards to ensure compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.
The National Gender and Equality Commission also called on the State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC) to consider gender balance and broader inclusion when advising on appointments of board members and staff in state corporations. It said the committee should ensure appointments comply with constitutional provisions promoting equality and inclusion in the public service.
Further, the commission urged every state corporation to comply with the national values and principles of governance under Articles 10 and 232 of the Constitution, the two-thirds gender rule under Article 27(8), and other government policies aimed at promoting equal representation.
It said state corporations should also implement the Sessional Paper No. 2 of 2019 on the National Policy on Gender and Development, which promotes balanced representation of women and men in leadership and policymaking while strengthening inclusiveness in public institutions.
