President Uhuru Kenyatta names five more TSC commissioners

Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta has nominated five commissioners to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), a move that could see an end to the huge backlog of disciplinary cases pending.

In a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly Justin Muturi, the Head of State said he had picked Twahir Mbarak Said, Kinoti Imanyara, Tache Bonsa Gollo, Beatrice Marembo Adu and Albert Fred Ekirapa to join the four commissioners currently serving at the Teachers Service Commission.

Mr Ekirapa is the Senior Deputy Director of Education, while Mr Said served as Director of Education in Nairobi. Mr Imanyara is the County Director of Education for Nyeri.

Mr Gollo is a committee member of the Kenya Red Cross Council, whose patron is President Kenyatta, and was once the Vice Chairperson of the National Gender and Equality Commission.

He also served as the credit chairperson of the Isiolo Teachers Sacco Society Ltd, Assistant Executive Secretary of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, Isiolo branch and chairman of the Board of Directors Ewaso Nyiro North River Basin Development Authority.

"The President seeks the approval of the National Assembly on the nominees for appointment as members of the commission," said Muturi at yesterday's inaugural sitting of the Third Session of the Eleventh Parliament.

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TSC currently has a chairperson, Lydia Nzomo and three commissioners in Salome Gichura, Cleophas Tirop and Saadia Kontoma. If the new nominees are approved and sworn in, the number of commissioners will rise to nine, thus meeting the maximum set by the Constitution.

The minimum number of commissioners required is three.The Speaker told the House that the letter detailing the nominees reached Parliament on December 30 last year when MPs were still on their Christmas break.

They will now be expected to approve or reject the five names within the next 21 days, and send their verdict to State House.

The nomination of the five comes at a time when the TSC is grappling with a rebellion by over 1,000 teachers unwilling to resume work in Garissa, Wajir and Mandera counties over insecurity.

Deserting duty

TSC warned the teachers that they would be sacked for deserting duty, but the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (Kuppet) said the commission cannot force teachers to work in an insecure environment.

TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni had already advertised the teachers' jobs in the dailies. The issue of teachers is before the National Assembly's Committee on Education, but came up in the House after an MP asked the teachers to stand firm until they are assigned different duty stations.

"These teachers witnessed murder, they are traumatised, and someone tells them, 'you must go back'. What we expect TSC to do, is to have these people talked to, assisted to go through the trauma, and transferred to some other place. You can't force them back just because they are on the payroll," said Manson Nyamweya, the MP for South Mugirango, while contributing to a Motion on the formation of the House Business Committee.

The Speaker ordered the House Committee on Education, Research and Technology to sit and vet the nominees within the next fortnight, and submit the final report on their suitability "on or before February 25, 2015".

"The committee should notify the nominees and the general public of the time and place of holding the approval hearings in good time to ensure commencement of the necessary hearings for the expeditious disposal of the matter," Muturi told the House yesterday.

The Unions have vowed to sue the Government if it continues to force the teachers to return to Garissa, Wajir and Mandera.

"The affected teachers have sworn not to risk their lives, but instead are ready to face the consequences. It is about their lives not their jobs. It is about their wish to see tomorrow alive, not to earn. It is time the employer takes the steps proposed by the union to remedy this situation," said Knut in a statement a week ago.

There have also been claims by the unions and teachers that the TSC delayed the prosecution of disciplinary cases, and so some teachers interdicted for indiscipline are still awaiting their chance to clear their names.