By Denis Lumiti
Lurambi Member of Parliament (MP) Titus Khamala has kicked up a storm after declaring that only teachers who are voters in his constituency will be recruited to fill the recently advertised Teachers Service Commission (TSC) vacancies.
Bishop Khamala said the main requirement, besides academic qualifications, would be an Identity (ID) Card indicating that the job seeker was a resident of Lurambi.
“The ID card must read Lurambi and, if not, I will ensure that we establish if the applicants vote in our constituency,” he said.
Speaking from the United States of America where he is on an official visit, the MP said the move was meant to protect his constituents.
He said all constituencies in the country would benefit from the planned recruitment and that every applicant should “try his or her luck from wherever he or she was born or votes”.
Khamala said he had held meetings with TSC bosses from the sub-county to the national levels and made his demands clear.
He said he was not targeting any ethnic extractions but only fighting for all the “bona fide” residents of his constituency.
However, the remarks were rebuked by a section of residents who said they were discriminatory.
“Lurambi hosts Kakamega town which is largely cosmopolitan and there are a number of trained teachers who have lived here for years but their ID cards read elsewhere. Will they be denied this opportunity just because of that?” said one of the teachers who is looking forward to being hired. He sought anonymity.
Some of the top schools in the constituency which are attractive to teachers from across the country include Kakamega High, Shikoti Girls, Ingotse Boys, Bishop Sulumeti Girls, St. Patrick’s Ikonyero and Sheywe.
“I am not an employment agent but the representative of my people. I am, thus, only protecting what rightfully belongs to us,” the MP insisted.
