NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 16 — The recent promotion of over 151,000 teachers by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has sparked a storm in the National Assembly, with Members of Parliament condemning the exercise as flawed, opaque, and potentially fraudulent.
Lawmakers on the National Assembly’s Education Committee have accused the TSC of favoritism, skewed regional allocations, and promoting less qualified teachers over those with higher interview scores.
The promotions, effected on April 2, have stirred widespread dissatisfaction across the education sector.
MPs pointed to glaring regional disparities, citing examples where some counties received significantly more promotions than others.
Machakos County reportedly led with 690 promoted teachers, followed by Meru (688), Makueni (668), and Nakuru (665).
In contrast, counties in marginalized regions such as Wajir and Mandera were among the least represented, with Garissa reporting 303 promotions.
Kabondo Kasipul MP and Education Committee Vice-Chairperson Eve Obara described the situation as a “burning issue” causing immense frustration among educators.
“There is a major public outcry. The process appears anything but transparent,” she said.
Obara and her colleagues further alleged that TSC had prioritized newly recruited teachers while sidelining long-serving educators—contradicting the commission’s stated criteria.
Luanda MP Dick Maungu decried the exercise as unfair and a grave injustice to the teaching profession.
“We know that some teachers who were promoted last year were promoted again this year, even though the commission claimed that only those who had served between three to five years were eligible,” Maungu said.
Baringo North MP Joseph Makilap echoed these concerns, demanding full transparency from the TSC.
“Let the TSC table raw data from each sub-county and county. We need to see how the teachers were scored and how the positions were allocated,” he said.
Contested selection creteria
Moiben MP Phylis Bartoo described the process as “shambolic” and questioned the integrity of the results.
“With all the uproar about these promotions, I want to ask the TSC: if given an opportunity to redo this, would you come back with the same results? Because as it stands, this is a scam,” Bartoo charged.
Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera also raised concerns over the scoring system.
“Why would someone who scored 100 percent be left out while another with 80 percent gets promoted? Let the commission confirm whether the evaluation criteria were shared with all candidates,” he said.
Appearing before the Education Committee, TSC CEO Nancy Macharia defended the process, insisting it was conducted fairly and with integrity.
“The Commission has endeavoured to apply the principles of fair competition, merit, integrity, equity, and transparency in the selection and appointment process,” she said.
Macharia acknowledged regional disparities but maintained that data-driven methods were employed to ensure fairness.
“We uphold regional balance by identifying disparities and applying affirmative action in marginalized areas. Eligible applicants from such regions are shortlisted and given a fair chance,” she noted.
She also cited financial constraints as a key limitation, leading to a backlog in teacher promotions.
“We have received Sh2 billion over the past three years for the promotion of 151,611 teachers. However, we require an additional Sh35.49 billion to promote a further 178,881 teachers,” Macharia explained.
She assured the lawmakers that the commission would submit a detailed document outlining the promotion criteria.
“The criteria is available, but it’s quite extensive. We will share it in soft copy for transparency,” she added.
