Commission CEO accused of presenting falsified tribal diversity data to Parliament while ethnic cronies pocket millions in taxpayer funds
National Land Commission Chairman Kabale Tache Arero is facing explosive allegations of deliberately misleading a Parliamentary committee with cooked figures on staff ethnic composition, even as damning evidence suggests the institution has become a feeding trough for ghost workers predominantly from two tribal communities.
Fresh revelations emerging from multiple whistleblowers within the Commission paint a disturbing picture of an organization captured by ethnic cartels, where phantom employees draw salaries while running private businesses in Nairobi’s Eastleigh, South B and South C estates, and where recruitment has degenerated into a shameless exercise in tribal patronage.
According to documents obtained by Kenya Insights, Tache recently submitted data to the National Assembly Standing Committee on National Cohesion purporting to show balanced tribal representation across the Commission’s workforce.
But insiders say those figures were fabricated wholesale, with numbers for two tribes deliberately inflated while others were suppressed to create an illusion of diversity.
The reality on the ground tells a starkly different story. Whistleblowers allege that a staggering 65 percent of current NLC employees hail from ASAL regions in Northern Kenya and Kalenjin-dominated Rift Valley areas, mirroring the ethnic backgrounds of the Commission’s top brass.
Tache herself hails from Marsabit in Northern Kenya, while his Human Resources Director comes from Nandi County and the Deputy HR boss also traces roots to ASAL regions.
This ethnic stacking has allegedly occurred through a recruitment blitz between 2022 and 2024 that flouted every regulation in the book.
Sources describe backdoor hiring sprees conducted with military precision, targeting specific communities while locking out qualified Kenyans from other regions.
The ghost worker phenomenon has reached alarming proportions in Northern counties, where the Commission maintains skeletal operations.
In Wajir County alone, investigators have discovered that the number of drivers on the payroll exceeds the actual fleet of vehicles, a mathematical impossibility that speaks to the brazenness of the fraud.
These positions are never advertised publicly. Instead, tribal kingpins handpick loyalists who are slotted into the payroll through forged documentation.
Some of these ghost workers possess minimal qualifications, with Form Four certificate holders reportedly landing permanent and pensionable positions after brief stints on contract terms.
What is particularly galling is that many of these phantom employees abandoned their duty stations years ago.
They have deserted their posts completely, yet salaries continue flowing into their accounts month after month while they operate family businesses in Nairobi’s predominantly Somali neighborhoods and southern suburbs.
One egregious case involves a former bodyguard from the National Police Service who was attached to CEO Tache.
This individual now masquerades as a land administration and security officer in Kwale County, a position that does not officially exist in the Commission’s establishment. Yet he continues drawing a government salary, courtesy of his proximity to the big man.
The allegations extend beyond ghost workers to encompass systematic HR malpractices that would make any competent auditor weep.
Parliamentary presentations have previously highlighted payroll fraud involving payments to non-existent or absent employees, rampant favoritism in hiring decisions, and deliberate suppression of ethnic diversity data to mask the true extent of tribal capture.
These revelations about corruption, tribalism, nepotism and abuse of office point to catastrophic governance failures within an institution tasked with one of Kenya’s most sensitive mandates: land administration.
The irony is not lost on observers that a Commission established partly to address historical land injustices has itself become a vehicle for ethnic patronage and systematic looting.
Insiders who spoke to Kenya Insights on condition of anonymity described a culture of impunity at the NLC where merit has been sacrificed at the altar of ethnic loyalty. Qualified professionals from non-favored communities find their applications gathering dust while less qualified candidates waltz into offices based solely on tribal credentials and political connections.
The recruitment irregularities have created a two-tier workforce within the Commission.
In ASAL areas particularly, the few genuine employees who show up for work find themselves vastly outnumbered by ghost workers whose names appear on payroll sheets but whose faces are never seen in Commission offices.
These ghost workers have perfected the art of bureaucratic invisibility. They hold fabricated positions with impressive titles, draw hefty salaries complete with allowances, but their actual contribution to the Commission’s mandate is precisely zero. Meanwhile, legitimate operations in these regions are starved of human resources and institutional capacity.
The decision to present falsified ethnic data to Parliament represents a particularly brazen act of contempt for constitutional bodies.
Parliamentary committees wield significant oversight powers, and deliberately misleading them with cooked statistics suggests either breathtaking arrogance or a calculated bet that the scale of the fraud would never be exposed.
But the chickens are coming home to roost.
Multiple sources within the Commission have corroborated the whistleblowers’ claims, describing an institution where irregular recruitment has become normalized and where the HR department functions as an ethnic employment bureau rather than a professional human resource management unit.
The allegations raise uncomfortable questions about accountability mechanisms within constitutional commissions.
Despite being established as independent institutions with robust governance frameworks, the NLC appears to have been captured by networks that operate with complete disregard for the law.
What makes this scandal particularly toxic is its intersection with Kenya’s most volatile fault line: ethnicity.
By transforming a constitutional commission into an ethnic fiefdom, those responsible have not only stolen public funds but have also poisoned the well of national cohesion that these institutions were designed to protect.
The timing could not be worse for the NLC, which has been grappling with a crisis of public confidence over its handling of land disputes and title deed issuance. These fresh allegations of ghost workers and ethnic stacking will further erode whatever credibility the institution still possessed.
Parliamentary oversight committees must now interrogate these claims with the seriousness they deserve. If indeed the CEO submitted falsified data to Parliament, that alone constitutes grounds for immediate investigation and potential removal from office. Misleading Parliament is not a minor administrative oversight but a fundamental breach of public trust.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Auditor General must also move swiftly to conduct forensic audits of the NLC’s payroll and recruitment records. Ghost workers leave paper trails, and a thorough investigation should be able to establish the scale of the fraud and identify the masterminds behind the scheme.
Kenyans are entitled to know how many phantom employees are on the NLC payroll, how much money has been stolen through this scheme, and who authorized these fraudulent recruitments. They also deserve to know whether the ethnic data presented to Parliament was falsified, and if so, who gave the order to cook the books.
For CEO Kabale Tache, these allegations represent a potential career-ending scandal. If the claims are substantiated, his position will become untenable. No constitutional office holder can survive proven allegations of misleading Parliament, presiding over massive payroll fraud, and transforming a public institution into an ethnic employment scheme.
The ghost worker phenomenon is not unique to the NLC, but the scale and brazenness alleged in this case set it apart. This is not about a few individuals gaming the system but rather an institutional capture that has turned a constitutional commission into a vehicle for systematic looting along ethnic lines.
As more evidence emerges and more whistleblowers find their courage, the full extent of the rot at the NLC will become apparent. What is already clear is that this institution requires radical surgery to excise the cancer of corruption and tribalism that has metastasized within its ranks.
The ghost workers of Northern Kenya may think they have pulled off the perfect heist, but their days of collecting unearned salaries while sipping tea in Eastleigh may be numbered. The wheels of justice grind slowly, but when they finally turn, those who have stolen from Kenyans will have nowhere to hide.
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