The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has issued fresh demands to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), warning the new leadership against allowing political interference in the employment and promotion of teachers.
KNUT National Deputy Chairperson Malel Lang’at argued that the involvement of politicians in teacher recruitment has sidelined deserving graduates, leaving thousands of trained teachers unemployed despite a shortage in schools.
Speaking in Kajiado, Lang’at maintained that merit and fairness must guide the process. “As a union, we are saying that teachers should be given priority and a chance to be employed without any bias that has been in place due to politics,” he said.
He further claimed that politicians had gone as far as collecting employment letters directly from TSC offices and later distributing or “auctioning” them during public gatherings. Lang’at called on the new TSC CEO, Evaleen Mitei, to ensure that malpractice is eliminated under his tenure.
Hardship Allowances
On his part, Elly Korinko, the KNUT Kajiado Branch Secretary, urged the commission to safeguard hardship allowances.
He warned that any interference with the allowances or the affirmative action policy in hardship areas would demoralize teachers serving in remote counties.
Reports have persisted across the country on how recruitment and promotion letters have been used by politicians to reward loyalists at rallies.
KNUT insisted that such practices undermine professionalism and called for strict separation between politics and the teaching profession.
Meanwhile, last month, TSC came under scrutiny from legislators following reports of gross irregularities in the teachers' payroll system.
The concerns stemmed from Auditor General Nancy Gathungu’s report for the financial year ending June 2024, which highlighted mistakes in the payment of some teachers.
Gathungu disclosed that TSC overpaid a section of teachers by a total of Ksh433.9 million, attributing the overpayments to inefficiencies associated with manual reporting and processing systems.
According to the Auditor General, the Commission managed to recover only Ksh222.3 million, leaving an outstanding balance of Ksh211.6 million.
