- Albert Kasembeli argues Wetang’ula’s remarks raise serious questions about TSC’s constitutional independence and recruitment mandate.
- Previous claims by MPs have intensified concerns that teacher employment opportunities are being subjected to political influence.
- He calls for investigations to establish whether recruitment procedures were bypassed and hold those responsible accountable.
It is not every day that a sitting Speaker of the National Assembly exposes a scheme that implicates the highest office in the land. But Moses Wetang’ula has done precisely that, and Kenyans should pay attention, not to the drama, but to the constitutional violation he has admitted exists.
Enraged over the weekend, Wetang’ula revealed that he personally escorts Members of Parliament to State House, where the President hands each MP up to ten Teachers Service Commission (TSC) employment letters. These letters, intended for deserving teachers, are then allegedly sold to desperate jobseekers for as much as KSh400,000 apiece. From ten letters, one MP could pocket KSh4 million at the expense of qualified graduates who have waited years for a chance to teach.
Wetang’ula was reported as saying some MPs he takes to President William Ruto receive up to 10 teacher employment letters, but that he later hears some have sold them. Reports of his remarks put the alleged price at up to KSh400,000 for a letter.
Apparently, the Speaker intended to rebuke greedy legislators. Instead, he implicated the Presidency itself. If the Speaker is ferrying MPs to collect letters, the scandal is not confined to a few “unscrupulous” backbenchers. It is a systemic failure orchestrated from the top.
TSC independence at stake
Article 237 of the Constitution establishes TSC as an independent body with the mandate to “recruit and employ registered teachers.” This independence was deliberately crafted to shield public service from political capture. The Commission is supposed to hire on merit, based on prescribed qualifications and recruitment criteria, not on political loyalty or ability to pay.
When the President, the Speaker and MPs reduce teacher recruitment to a patronage scheme, they are not merely bypassing the TSC. They are dismantling one of the key independent institutions designed to protect public service from capture. The Commission becomes a rubber stamp for decisions made elsewhere, its statutory processes a formality dressed around political favours.
This is not politics as usual. This is a constitutional violation.
The scale of the injustice is stark. Kenya continues to experience a substantial teacher shortage. TSC told Parliament earlier this year that the government was working to reduce a shortage of about 116,000 teachers, although more recent reporting has placed the deficit higher as enrolment and Competency-Based Education generate additional staffing requirements.
At the same time, TSC data has been reported as showing more than 300,000 trained teachers remain unemployed.
In other words, classrooms face a massive teacher shortage, while a large pool of qualified, unemployed graduates is waiting to fill those gaps. The system should be transparent and merit-based. Instead, appointments are allegedly being dished out at State House through political networks.
Unions demand answers
Teachers’ unions have condemned the alleged practice, raising questions about what becomes of applicants who follow established recruitment procedures if politicians are given employment opportunities to distribute.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and Kenya Teachers in Hardship and Arid Areas Welfare Association (KETHAWA) have all criticised the allegations arising from Wetang’ula’s remarks.
The controversy has also prompted calls for investigation over the potential implications for TSC’s constitutional independence and merit-based recruitment.
This is not the first time such allegations have surfaced.
Murang’a Woman Representative Betty Maina previously claimed that government-aligned MPs were given employment letters at State House.
“We were called to State House, and I will say it openly. We were given letters for the employment of teachers,” Maina said, according to the Daily Nation.
She claimed she accompanied 11 MPs from Kiambu and that each received 20 letters.
Nakuru West MP Samuel Arama separately alleged earlier this year that teacher employment letters were being distributed as political rewards and that his constituency was disadvantaged because of his perceived political position.
“The letters are coming from State House,” Arama said, claiming some of his colleagues received them while he was excluded because he was considered insufficiently supportive of the government.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has also raised political patronage in teacher employment in Parliament.
During a Senate debate in July 2024, Sifuna spoke about qualified teachers waiting for employment while political leaders publicly handed out TSC employment letters at rallies and funerals.
What distinguishes this round of the controversy is the source: the Speaker of the National Assembly himself.
Allegations demand investigation
The question can no longer simply be whether allegations of this practice exist. Wetang’ula’s remarks provide grounds for the relevant institutions to establish precisely what has been happening, how any letters reaching politicians were obtained and whether established TSC recruitment procedures were circumvented.
This demands investigation and accountability. If the Speaker can make this admission and no institution establishes the facts behind it, constitutional safeguards risk becoming meaningless.
The state must either respect the law or be held to it.
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The young teachers who have played by the rules, who have graduated, interned, sat exams and waited years deserve better. Their future should not be determined by who knows an MP or who can raise KSh400,000. It should be determined by merit, qualification and the Constitution.
By Albert Kasembeli
Kasembeli is a governance and public policy commentator.
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