Why corrupt headteachers are free

Teachers Service Commission Chairperson Lydia Nzomo (centre) with the commission's CEO Nancy Macharia (left) during a media briefing in Nairobi on September 9, 2015. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • There are complaints that headteachers were going against the ministry's directive by increasing fees beyond the set guidelines.
  • Ms Macharia said the situation in the education sector was sometimes so bad that TSC county directors and ministry officials were not on talking terms.

Corrupt headteachers are getting off the hook or being transferred to other schools because of lack of audit reports that can be used to dismiss them, the teachers’ employer has revealed.

Teachers Service Commission Chief Executive Nancy Macharia said that on many occasions, principals went scot free because if they are taken to court with no audited reports, they usually turn against their employer and sue for damages. 

The revelation comes in the wake of complaints that headteachers were going against the Ministry of Education’s directive by increasing fees beyond the set guidelines.

“Sometimes we transfer a headteacher who is not doing his or her work properly because if we take them to court without detailed reports, we cannot prove anything. Court cases are expensive,” Ms Macharia said. 

“The ideal situation would be when the TSC gets access to the reports compiled by the ministry in order to discipline an errant teacher. If that happens, we won’t have to transfer incompetent heads.”

Ms Macharia was speaking at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu during a retreat for senior officials from the commission, the National Education Board, the Kenya National Examinations Council, county directors of education and TSC county directors.

She said the situation in the education sector was sometimes so bad that TSC county directors and ministry officials were not on talking terms.

“Sometimes we ask our directors to give us information on a headteacher and the ministry asks the county director for the same. We end up getting different data from the same school. It is time we held meetings at the county level together and sent reports as a team,” she said.

“If we work together as TSC and county directors of education, we will take action.”

Ms Macharia’s comments come a week after Kenya Primary School Heads Association chairman Shem Ndolo said some headteachers were being victimised for not accounting for free education funds.

“They have been caught unawares by auditors who demand records on the usage of cash. Many fail to account for the funds, not because they squandered the money but because they do not have knowledge on accounting,” Mr Ndolo told the Nation.

MISUSE OF FUNDS

Recent statistics have not shown massive misuse of funds though the ministry fired 270 headteachers in 2010, while records submitted by 749 schools on how textbook money was spent “were questionable”.

In the Kisumu meeting, Education PS Belio Kipsang also asked for cooperation among the agencies.

“Any discord in performance of duties in the field offices is quickly exploited by schools to undermine the implementation of policy guidelines and the cardinal goal of providing quality education,” Dr Kipsang said in speech read by the ministry’s Director-General, Ms Leah Rotich.