TSC allows teachers to evade retirement
What you need to know:
- The Public Service Commission chairperson Margaret Kobia confirmed that TSC had teachers above 60 years old on its payroll. She was referring to those who had won the contracts before the government issued a ban on the extensions.
- “Perhaps TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni has reasons for hiring teachers over 60,” she said. Contacted, Mr Lengoiboni said there was a possibility that the documents belonged to teachers with disabilities.
- But the Nation confirmed that teachers who have benefited from the extensions are known heads, principals of colleges and ordinary teachers, some who have won contracts lasting till 2017 although they are supposed to be leaving the service like their 5,000 counterparts.
Teachers who have attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 are being offered contracts to keep them in service for up to three years, contrary to a government order banning the hiring of retirees, according to a Daily Nation investigation.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is going to the extent of recalling retiring teachers on flimsy grounds such as having small children already in school to fend for. Others are allowed to stay on to equip buildings they built during their tenure or to complete the expansion they initiated.
The Nation has seen nine extensions, but commission staff said there were many and only a special audit could expose the extent of the practice, which has caused discontent among teachers waiting to take up the jobs.
Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi said such extensions would be in contravention of the regulations “if the reports turn out to be true”.
“I am not aware but I want to emphasise that rules and regulations must be followed,” he said on Friday. “I would be surprised if there is anything like that”.
NEITHER DENIED NOR CONFIRMED
TSC chairperson Salome Gichura neither denied nor confirmed whether there were teachers above 60 years who were on the payroll.
“Come to the office on Tuesday,” she told the Daily Nation on Sunday.
The chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Prof Margaret Kobia, said she was aware that TSC had teachers above 60 years on its payroll, referring to those who had won the contracts before the government issued a ban on such extensions in February.
“Moving forward, the contracts will not be renewed when the terms they are serving expire, according to a circular from Head of Public Service,” she said.
But according to the cases the Nation is familiar with, TSC extended terms of service for some senior staff, mainly principals, long after Mr Kinyua issued the circular banning extensions in February.
Some of the extensions are scheduled to take effect next month, meaning the TSC never fully effected the circular.
On this, Prof Kobia said: “Perhaps TSC Secretary (Gabriel Lengoiboni) has reasons for hiring teachers over 60.”
Mr Lengoiboni said perhaps the cases the Nation was familiar with referred to teachers with disabilities, who retire at 65.
“There are teachers with disabilities who retire at 65. A few teachers who used to retire in the middle of the term would stay on until schools close, we have now told them that they will retire exactly on the date of retirement. That could be what you have come across,” he said.
But the Nation confirmed that some of the teachers who have been given extensions are well known school heads, principals of colleges and teachers, some who have won contracts lasting until 2017, although they are supposed to have retired.
On February 14, the Chief of Staff and Head of Public Service, Mr Joseph Kinyua, directed all principal secretaries to ensure that all officers reaching the age of 60 are retired. He asked principal secretaries to ensure that all officers aged 58 and above identify successors for smooth transition when they retire.
WAGE BILL SUSTAINABILITY
“Retention of officers beyond the age of 60 may have its own challenges in terms of wage bill sustainability, parity of treatment and equity,” Mr Kinyua said in a circular he copied to principal secretaries, the Controller of Budget, Auditor General, Public Service Commission, and the TSC.
It was also copied to all heads of parastatals, the clerk of the National Assembly and vice-chancellors of public universities.
But the circular said judges, university lecturers, research scientists and public servants with disabilities were not subject to the 60-year rule. Such staff retire between 65 and 74.
“It has, however, been brought to the notice of this office that many requests from officers who are about to retire on attainment of the mandatory retirement age of 60 are being received,” he said.
In one of the extensions, Mr Lengoiboni accepted to act on a letter dated February 10, 2014 in which Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia wrote to him asking that he extends the service of Mary Wang’ombe, the principal of Mahiga Girls secondary school.
He argued that the sponsors of the school, African Pentecostal Church, had expressed their desire that Mrs Wang’ombe be retained in service for a period of three years “to accomplish school development projects which she has already initiated”.
The commission wrote to Mrs Wang’ombe and extended her contract to December 31, 2017, and guaranteed she would remain at the school.
One document appears to indicate that Mr Joseph Karuga, the headteacher of Nairobi Primary School, was the beneficiary of an extension until September 30, 2015.
A letter sent to him indicates that he had, on January 28, 2013, asked for the extension, which he was granted about two weeks later. But he denied seeking or getting an extension, saying he was due to retire in 2016.
Additional reporting by Maryanne Gicobi
