An urgent clarion call has been made by distraught stakeholders to both Ministry of Education, MoE and Teachers Service Commission, TSC, to expedite the transfer of sub county directors working in their home counties due to what they claim as glaring conflict of interest.
The stakeholders drawn from teaching, unions and lobby groups described posting of these officers has exacerbated corruption thus hampering service delivery.
“Sometimes you go to an office only to find an officer in long meeting with a relative or a friend. This should not transpire in a public office,” said Salome who further pointed out that education officers managing a sub county should work outside their counties if government is serious on service delivery.
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Claims of increased nepotism was cited by some teachers’ union officials in western and Nyanza region in the January teachers’ promotions. The malpractice was said to have been higher in sub counties where the sub county Directors hailed from the same counties they were working in.
“Teachers from one clan were favored. We only learned later that they belonged to the clan of the sub county director, claimed Ouma, a teacher in Nyanza region.
Sub county Directors working within their home counties were also blamed for giving favors to their relatives and friends when it comes to transfers and recruitment of teachers.
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Agitated teachers who spoke to Education news claimed that their colleagues who schooled with the boss or are related, are always given preference in any opportunity. “I am aware of a number of my colleagues who have been given schools along the tarmac courtesy of their close relationship with our sub county Director,” pointed out Mark, a teacher in Eastern region.
The same applies to MoE sub county Directors working in their home counties. A story is told of a sub county Director who gave preference to schools headed by his relatives on government projects that were earmarked for struggling Education lobby groups have come out to implore upon ministry of Education to ensure that conflict of interest is avoided by moving such officers away from home.
The claims from the stakeholders also point to a situation where some Directors working within their home counties having a plan to join politics in 2027 and thus ensuring that they use their influence to endear themselves to electorate. It is thus the cry of the interviewed stakeholders both MOE and TSC to ensure that the officers are transferred and always their outside the home counties.
By Ismael Wabwire.
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