Keep off, leaders tell MPs on plot to ‘disable’ TSC

By ALLY JAMAH

NAIROBI, KENYA: Stakeholders in education sector are demanding that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) be excluded from plans by MPs to reduce the number of constitutional commissions.

The Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Appropriation led by Mbeere South MP Mutava Musyimi wants the 17 commissions slashed and funds allocated to them reduced. Those to be affected by the cutbacks include TSC.

But yesterday, Mbooni MP and member of the Parliamentary Education Committee Kisoi Munyao said TSC is a crucial commission that handles more than 250,000 teachers countrywide.

“If that proposal comes to the education committee, we will shoot it down. The proposal to reduce costs is good but only non-essential commissions should be targeted, not a giant commission like TSC,” he said.  MPs want some constitutional commissions abolished, merged or the number of commissioners serving in them reduced to a maximum of three. They have also vowed to ensure that the remaining commissions operate on a tight and “disciplined” budget.

The Budget committee reduced the allocations to 10 commissions by Sh1.3 billion and proposed further cuts in the coming year.

But Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers Omboko Milemba says downgrading TSC by merging it with other commissions and slashing its budget will affect the quality of education.   “Teachers will resist all efforts to interfere with the work of this important body in the education sector. I urge MPs to keep their hands off TSC,” he said.

Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary General Wilson Sossion has also dismissed the move, saying teachers will not allow TSC to be disabled.

“That issue was overtaken by events when the constitution was passed in 2010. We appreciate the need to control government costs but targeting TSC is not the solution,” he said

Sossion said TSC is currently operating with only three commissioners instead of the required nine. This, he says, has resulted in a backlog of its operations such as disciplining and promotion of teachers.

Previously, chair of the Commission on Administrative Justice Otiende Amollo has said that the reduction of commissioners in constitutional commissions can only be done through a constitutional amendment.