Failure to pay tutors shows poor leadership by TSC

Kenya: Failure by the top management at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to pay teachers higher basic salary awarded by courts indicates lack of planning and poor leadership.

By now the commission’s chairperson Lydia Nzomo and Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia should have resigned for violating several articles of the Constitution. This include chapter 6, Articles 234 and 235. These officers have failed to promote the letter and spirit of the Constitution and the rule of law in particular.

The commission failed to present a budget that would have accommodated any pay increments to teachers in the current financial year, despite the dispute between it and teachers over salary increments going before the courts in January, this year.

After shooting itself in the foot by going to the Supreme Court to challenge a pay order by the Court of Appeal, the commission acted like a headless chicken by filing an appeal against the Supreme Court’s order.

Already, the hearing of the appeal by the commission at the Courts of Appeal, which was set for September 22, has collapsed after the commission failed to effect the 50-60 per cent pay award to teachers by midnight of August 31.

There is growing concern that the commission is determined to use the courts to cover-up for its budget preparation failure. There is no explanation other than poor planning and weak management, for the commission to have omitted to factor in emergency funds in the budget estimates to pay teachers, regardless of the possible outcome of the court cases.

Indeed the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) played a key role in support of the commission to become autonomous during the Constitution-making process. The unions believed that an independent TSC would managed the teaching service more efficiently and effectively rather than depending on the Education ministry’s budget for its operations.

Under the Constitution, the commission is empowered to prepare and present its own budget to Parliament for approval. This means that the argument the commission is propagating that it does not have funds to honour the pay increment, is simply self-inflicted as a result of lack of foresight.

Another indication of TSC’s failure in its constitutional mandate is allowing its employees to be evaluated by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). This argument is misleading since teachers are neither State officers nor public service employees of county governments. In fact, education and teachers, with the exception of Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers, are still under the national government.

While other sectors of the public service have introduced changes to conform to the ideals of the Constitution, TSC continues to operate in the same old ways. Respect and appreciation for its core workers has been long in coming. For example, while teachers have been fighting for better terms and condition of service, the TSC secretariat employees were awarded 95 per cent salary increments.

Despite the promulgation of the Constitution, TSC continues to treat teachers like second-class citizens. Those who have worked for the commission long enough would bear me witness that little has changed since efforts by former CEO Benjamin Sogomo to streamline the operations at the commission became a cropper after he left office.