National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang'ula has for many months been accustomed to hosting and participating in empowerment programmes across the country. These programmes, dubbed empowerments, have been harnessed as avenues of political campaigning for William Ruto’s re-election bid and the speaker’s 2032 election bid.
It should be clear that a speaker should not engage in political activities whatsoever. Wetang'ula seems to be encompassed in the 2022 election campaign hangover. Last year, a three-judge bench declared that Wetang'ula cannot serve as the speaker and the party leader of Ford Kenya at the same time.
The judges stated clearly that a speaker must be a neutral and impartial public officer. The court found that the speaker holding the party leadership position creates a conflict of interest.
Despite the court’s judgment, Wetang'ula remains the leader of Ford Kenya, a party in a coalition agreement with the Kenya Kwanza regime. For this reason, Wetang'ula has continued to engage in political activities across the country. Holding dual roles has left him operating above the law and with impunity.
In recent days, Wetang'ula revealed that 10 Teachers Service Commission employment letters were collected at State House and distributed to each MP allied with the government for distribution to their constituents. Wetang'ula “regretted” that some MPs sold the letters for as high as Sh400,000 each to struggling parents. Wetang'ula not only disrespects a court judgment but also undermines the TSC, an independent constitutional commission.
Additionally, Ezekiel Machogu, former Education CS, previously distributed employment letters at public rallies and burials, thereby compromising TSC’s autonomy. A 2023-2024 recruitment drive for 6,000 teachers was said to have been compromised, too, with positions allegedly handed to MPs for allocation, sidestepping the usual public advertisement and competitive hiring procedures.
Murang'a woman representative Betty Maina told colleagues she had attended a State House session where MPs collected letters in bulk, later saying 11 MPs from Kiambu had gone together and received 20 letters each. Nakuru West MP Samuel Arama separately said letters were being distributed as political rewards and that MPs seen as insufficiently supportive of the current regime were deliberately excluded from the allocation. This clearly proves a systematic trend to undermine TSC.
Article 237 of the constitution establishes the TSC and stipulates its functions, including registering, recruiting, and employing trained teachers, as well as promoting and transferring them. Section 11 of the Teachers Service Commission Act reiterates the abovementioned provision.
When politicians collect TSC recruitment letters and offer them to their supporters while bypassing TSC powers, there is a risk of untrained and unregistered teachers entering classrooms. This could trickle down and impact learners in various schools.
Equality and non-discrimination are important principles of human rights. This principle is well covered under Article 27 of the constitution. The continued unequal distribution of TSC employment letters leaves thousands of trained and qualified teachers awaiting employment.
Against this backdrop, TSC advertised 20,000 permanent and pensionable teaching vacancies for junior secondary school, with applications running from August 18 to August 31. TSC also advertised 34,016 promotion opportunities. TSC must disclose the number of applicants and the list of shortlisted candidates, along with their qualifications for each subject and their graduation years.
After the interviews, the list of the successful candidates and the schools to which they have been posted should be made public. It should not end here. The Elimu Bora Working Group has already called for the prosecution of those responsible for this illegality, whether it is Ruto or his MPs, to restore public trust. It’s now time for investigative agencies to act.
Human rights lawyer with the Kenya Human Rights Commission
