U-turn: MPs seek return of teacher delocalisation

Lawmaker are now seeking to overturn a parliamentary resolution that barred the Teachers Service Commission from transferring teachers outside their home counties.

The initial resolution, passed on November 3, 2022, followed a motion by Lurambi MP Titus Khamala, who argued the delocalisation policy disrupted teachers’ lives and lacked a clear framework.

He argued the policy also threatened the stability of teachers’ families, especially for those who were moved to far-flung areas.

Khamala said teachers were not adequately consulted about the change. T

The National Assembly subsequently directed the Teachers Service Commission to return the delocalised teachers to their home counties.

The Committee on Education set a January 31, 2023, deadline for TSC to complete the process of returning the delocalised teachers home.

This saw more than 14,700 teachers request transfers back to their home counties.

TSC chief executive officer Nancy Macharia told lawmakers that the resolution, which effectively prohibited transfers beyond subcounty boundaries, tied the commission’s hands.

Following the House’s unanimous decision, TSC changed its recruitment guidelines to suit the directive.

“We got a resolution of the committee stopping delocalisation meaning you can’t transfer a teacher outside the subcounty,” Macharia said.

She said the commission has thus not been hiring teachers outside their subcounties.

TSC had effected the policy in 2017, which saw it transfer teachers and post newly recruited ones outside their home counties.

Those posted in Northeastern were to be allowed out only after serving three years and five years for those who were moved to other regions.

A year later, the policy was extended to head teachers and principals, triggering uproar among teacher unions and action groups.

Macharia said the hue and cry which ensued, forced the commission to transfer teachers back to their localities.

However, the reversal has now created new challenges, with Macharia lamenting that the restriction has hindered equitable teacher distribution.

“If we were allowed to transfer teachers across counties, we could balance staffing,” she said.

Macharia lamented that MPs’ resistance to delocalisation had crippled TSC’s ability to redistribute teachers efficiently.

“It has impeded us from transferring outside the county. We could be redistributing the teachers if we were allowed,” the TSC boss told the Committee on Implementation of the Constitution on Tuesday.

The committee has questioned the legality of the parliamentary resolution and now wants the decision ending delocalisation reversed.

CIOC chairman Eric Karemba insisted statutory law supersedes motions.

“If the law provides for fair distribution, it is superior to a resolution,” he said.

TSC was before MPs to respond to concerns about unfair teacher distribution, delayed promotions and failure to address staffing gaps in CBC subjects.

MPs clashed among themselves over whether parliamentary resolutions should override TSC’s constitutional mandate.