Resume work or lose jobs, NEP leaders tell teachers

Leaders from North Eastern counties want the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to declare vacant the positions of teachers who have refused to report to work over fears of insecurity.

The leaders from Wajir, Mandera and Garissa counties issued an ultimatum to the teachers to report by next Monday or be replaced.

National Assembly Leader of Majority Adan Duale and other leaders met TSC and security chiefs in Nairobi Monday.

During the meeting at Harambee House chaired by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery, the leaders demanded that TSC should advertise the vacancies as soon as the notice lapses.

“We have asked TSC to advertise the slots so other Kenyans can be employed,” Mr Duale told journalists at Parliament Buildings Monday evening. The majority leader accused the teachers and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) boss Wilson Sossion of exaggerating the security situation in the three counties.

“We are very disturbed by utterances from Knut Secretary General Sossion that are inciting teachers and meant to create division among Kenyans,” he said.

Mandera Governor Ali Roba tore into a report by Knut that alleged the mistreatment of non-local teachers in the counties.

Bus massacre

“A lot of nonsense has been shared in the media about alleged discrimination of non-locals in Mandera, which is a lie. When one incident takes place in one part of the county, which is the size of Rwanda, it does not mean the entire county is affected,” Roba said.

So far, the leaders said about 567 teachers are yet to report to work in Mandera, over 260 in Wajir and about 94 in Garissa over insecurity despite over 1,500 tutors in private schools having resumed work.

The teachers have been camping at the TSC headquarters in Nairobi to demand transfers following last November’s bus massacre of 28 people in Mandera.