The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has refuted claims that it has left its mandate of hiring teachers to politicians.
TSC Chairperson, Dr. Jamleck Muturi said such claims were not true since they were the ones charged with that responsibility by law.
Muturi said he was not aware of anybody else including members of the political class who had taken over such powers.
He said they had been following due process in the recruitment of teachers since the establishment of TSC just after Kenya’s independence.
Dr. Muturi was speaking during a meeting with educational stakeholders at St. Teresa Girls Secondary School in Kisumu yesterday.
The forum was attended by TSC field officers, teachers’ unions, teachers and school board members among others. TSC Commissioners are currently doing countrywide tours to interact with key education players and get their views in a bid to boost service delivery at the organization.
Muturi was reacting to a story carried by Education News on Saturday attributed to the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET) who had taken a swipe at the Commission for ceding its assignments of employment of teachers to Members of Parliament and other members of the political class.
The union’s Kisumu Executive Secretary, Zablon Awange had hit out at TSC for dishing out TSC employment letters to the politicians who would gleefully flaunt the documents in public rallies.
Awange said TSC’s actions smacked of double standards and unfair to other potential teachers who were subjected to rigorous interviews in search for employment while those well-connected were offered jobs without breaking a sweat
“We have seen politicians and even cabinet secretaries dishing out employment letters in public to teachers from their home areas’ Said Awange.
He challenged TSC to come out publicly and state that teachers’ recruitment was no longer competitive and employment letters were automatic for all those who are qualified.
“As long as hiring of teachers was competitive, then let all Kenyans get the jobs on merit. These other short-cuts are illegal and should be stopped” Said an angry Awange.
Awange also said there had been a lot of discrimination in hardship allowances across Kisumu County.
He said some teachers have in the past had been moved from areas with such privileges to other stations without benefits as a form of disciplinary action.
He called for fairness in the handling of a wide range of discipline cases saying some teachers were either interdicted or dismissed over flimsy reasons.
Awange asked the government to relook at cases of teachers who had been fired over various issues.
Awange further argued that the hiring and promotion of teachers in Kisumu had been riddled with graft.
“For you to be promoted to headship or any other form of promotion, you must part with a lot of money” he said.
He stated that some teachers who were perceived to be tough-headed or were not ready to offer kickbacks were moved to some hardship areas as a punitive measure.
By Fredrick Odiero
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