Machakos Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Branch Council Member and Teacher's President, Mambo George, has faulted the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) over its alleged local-local employment approach, warning that it is shrinking a national constitutional mandate into a community agenda.
Mambo questioned when the Commission became a local institution, saying "TSC is not a county government institution. It is not a constituency institution. It is not a clan institution. It is a national constitutional commission."
He said Kenyans deserve to know the legal basis for the approach and why "a Kenyan teacher should be denied an opportunity to serve Kenyan children simply because he or she was born in a different county."
Mambo argued that the policy contradicts Kenya's national education system. Noting that national schools admit learners from Machakos, Turkana, Kisii, Mombasa and Nairobi, he asked “why should the teacher's birthplace matter when the learner's birthplace does not?”
He added that if TSC is going local, then the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) should also set different national examinations for different counties, which he said is unthinkable.
According to Mambo, the greatest victims are young qualified teachers who are reportedly turned away at recruitment centres for being outsiders.
"A teacher does not become less qualified because they crossed a county boundary. No qualified Kenyan should be made to feel like a foreigner in their own country," the teachers' president said during an interview with Justice Gauge on Tuesday.
He urged TSC to defend its independence and remain national, saying recruitment should be based on merit and competence, not birthplace.
"A teacher from Kisii should not be considered a stranger in Machakos.A teacher from Machakos should not be considered a stranger in Kisii. Kenyan teachers belong to Kenya," Mambo said.
