Knut issues ultimatum on TSC positions

Teachers have given the Education Cabinet Secretary a seven-day ultimatum to reconstitute the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and fill vacant positions in the commission.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) said it would declare a trade dispute, which would escalate into a strike, should Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi fail to meet their demand.

The teachers’ employer currently has three commissioners only. They are Prof Salome Gichura, Ms Saadia Kontoma and Mr Cleophas Tirop. It needs six more commissioners to meet the constitutional requirement of nine.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is yet to constitute a new panel to recruit the commissioners after an earlier list passed on to him by the Kibaki administration was rejected by Parliament on the grounds that the process was done irregularly.

LACK OF QUORUM

According to Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion, the lack of quorum at TSC had caused a delay in the handling of disciplinary cases among teachers.

“We therefore demand that the Cabinet Secretary immediately takes measures to ensure that the vacant offices of the commissioner and the chair to the commission are filled within the next seven days, failure to which we will declare a trade dispute, which will escalate into a strike,” said Mr Sossion.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Sossion said there were 5,000 pending discipline cases that were yet to be heard due to the lack of enough commissioners at TSC.

DISCIPLINE CASES

Mr Sossion said the union had received several complaints from teachers all over the country of discipline cases that had taken as long as 16 months to be heard yet the maximum time allowed is three months.

“We want the Cabinet Secretary for Education to be informed that teachers have been suffering for the last four years as they wait for the commission to be reconstituted… quality teaching services remain compromised as long as the commission is not fully reconstituted,” added the Knut Secretary general.

On the recent order from Deputy President William Ruto, who told all school heads to release the certificates of graduates with fee arrears, Mr Sossion, while welcoming the move, said the directive could only be tenable if the government sets aside funds to pay the debts.

'CONFLICTING FUNCTIONS'

He said the arrears were in excess of Sh14 billion, adding that as much as learners have a right to obtain their certificates, the institutions should not be left reeling in debts.

Mr Sossion also accused the National Education Board (NEB) of attempting to drive a wedge between TSC and the Ministry of Education and warned that teachers would not tolerate any “onslaught on the teachers’ rights.”

The accusations arose following a move by the NEB to write a letter to the office of the Attorney General asking for a legal interpretation on what the board calls conflicting functions of the Ministry of Education and its agencies, including TSC.

The letter was copied to several education stakeholders but not Knut, an omission that has infuriated the union officials.