TSC continues intimidation of pressure group teachers

A Teachers Service Commission (TSC) official confronted a teacher with his transfer letter at a hospital in Nakuru County, as the commission continued a purge on members of a lobby.

The move has been termed by teachers as an act of impunity, cruelty and intimidation made to silence the group from advancing with their agenda of registering the group as a union.

Mr Nelson Kirui, from Uasin Gishu County, who is also the Rift Valley representative of the Kenya National Teachers’ Pressure Group (KNTPG) yesterday said he was shocked to receive a call from his headteacher and the official, asking him to step outside the hospital and collect his transfer letter.

The transfer letter was delivered to him by the TSC Curriculum Support Officer (CSO) Sugoi Zone Nicholas Ndar and Kaptich primary school Headteacher Silas Biwott on Thursday last week. They had driven from Eldoret to the Olenguruone sub county hospital in Nakuru County using the commissions’ vehicle, to find Mr Kirui, who was waiting for his wife to deliver a baby.

“You can imagine they had to bring my letter from Eldoret where I work, to serve me in Olenguruone, a distance of about 200 kilometres … so heartless,” explained Mr Kirui, who has been moved from Eldoret to Lamu.

The teacher had sought permission from the school head to take his wife to hospital and was waiting for her to come out of theatre.

“I requested them to come check on her but they refused. They said their mission was to hand over the letter,” he said, adding that, “after handing over the transfer, they instructed their driver to take photos of the three of us, as I was holding the transfer letter,” said Mr Kirui.

As he was signing the letter, he said, Mr Ndar also took photos to prove that he had received it.

Mr Kirui said before Mr Ndar drove to the hospital, he had been to the school, where he was told Mr Kirui was at the hospital.

“He even called, asking me to share photos of my wife while in the hospital bed to prove that she was indeed hospitalised, but I refused to share the photos as that amounted to infringement of my privacy, and that’s when they decided to drive to the hospital,” explained Mr Kirui.

They also handed over release letters from the Uasin Gishu TSC county director and the school where he had been teaching.

In the transfer letter signed by TSC official Aileen Ntinyari, on behalf of TSC Chief Executive Nancy Macharia, Mr Kirui was instructed to report to Lamu County for posting.

“The commission has decided that you be transferred from Uasin Gishu County to Lamu County with effect from November 17, 2021,” reads part of the letter.

Dr Macharia also instructed the TSC county director for Lamu to inform the commission’s head office of the date Mr Kirui will report so that his salary can be paid through the new station.

Similarly, the Uasin Gishu TSC county director A.N. Mwanthi and Mr Biwott also gave him his release letters from Uasin Gishu County.

“I am to apply for my paternity leave and I don't know which office to go to now. Is it Eldoret, Lamu or TSC headquarters?” wondered Mr Kirui.

Mr Kirui said he also explained to the officials the challenges he is facing with the Minet teachers’ medical cover to no avail.

“… the AoN Minet medical cover for teachers has not accredited any government facility. Being an emergency case, it had to be done at the Olenguruone sub county hospital and then I had to transfer my wife and the baby … using my cash for specialised care,” he said. 

He added: “I have been calling AoN since Monday on securing an ambulance until I realised I could lose both my wife and child.”

In the last two weeks, 11 teachers associated with the pressure group have been transferred. They are required to report to their new stations between this week and next week. 

Yesterday, the teachers also accused the commission of using bloggers to publish a confidential letter written to the TSC by a teacher.

“The level of intimidation that is being used by the TSC should be stopped. How can they share confidential letters to social media and who is doing it at the commission?” asked the teacher.

The group said one of them was also arrested in Narok last week.

A plan to hold demonstrations on Friday last week also aborted while a planned press briefing was also disrupted by “rowdy” youth who said, they had been sent by “a Kenya National Union of Teachers official” to stop the teachers from holding any meeting.

However, Knut Secretary General Collins Oyuu, denied the union’s involvement and dismissed the group as unregistered entity.

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