Tribalism Rocks TSC Promotions: MPs Outraged Over Ethnic Bias Latest Teacher Upgrades.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is under heavy scrutiny from Members of Parliament following accusations of ethnic and regional favoritism in the promotion of over 25,000 teachers earlier this year. The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Education has raised red flags about the fairness and transparency of the process, prompting a demand for answers from TSC leadership.
Lawmakers accused the commission of promoting individuals based not on merit but on ethnicity and internal lobbying. According to documents presented before the committee, the promotions reflected significant imbalance, with certain communities receiving a disproportionately high number of slots while others were marginalized or entirely left out.
Committee Chair Julius Melly noted that MPs put considerable effort into securing funding for promotions annually and said it would be unacceptable if that support resulted in unfair distribution. He told the commission it had one week to present a conclusive response, reminding them of a previous instance when MPs nearly introduced a censure motion over the same issue.
An analysis of the promotion list revealed that five ethnic groups dominated the total 25,252 promotions. The Kikuyu community topped the list with 4,668 promotions, followed by the Kalenjin with 4,003, Luhya at 3,148, Luo with 2,388, and Kisii accounting for 1,923. In contrast, many minority and marginalized groups were barely represented.
At the sub-county level, regions like Samburu Central, Lamu West, and Tana Delta had among the highest numbers of promoted teachers, raising further questions about geographic equity. MPs said the disparities pointed to a deeply flawed and biased process, potentially influenced by internal interests.
Julius Taitumu of Igembe North remarked that it seemed the promotions were divided among commissioners based on their regions of origin. He challenged the commission to come clean, implying that the ethnic backgrounds of promoted teachers matched those of senior TSC officials.
TSC CEO Nancy Macharia responded by saying that the staffing approach was designed to address shortages in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), requiring a flexible application of eligibility criteria. She revealed that some of the standard requirements had been relaxed to deal with gaps in school leadership. For instance, in the case of D3 grade principals, the standard three-year tenure in D2 was reduced to just six months due to a lack of qualified candidates.
Despite this explanation, MPs were unconvinced and pressed for greater accountability. Nabii Nabwera, the MP for Lugari, criticized the commission for failing to provide full documentation. He demanded a complete list of promoted teachers, including scores, service records, and ethnic backgrounds, to assess whether the process was truly equitable.
Phylis Bartoo, MP for Moiben, questioned how entire sub-counties saw nearly all their teachers promoted while others had only a few. She asked whether such disparities indicated a lack of schools or teaching staff in those regions.
Mary Emasse of Teso South brought attention to data inaccuracies, highlighting examples of duplication and misclassification. She cited Busia County’s listing of ‘Busia’ as a sub-county as a significant error, arguing that such mistakes undermined the credibility of the overall analysis.
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Macharia maintained that some exceptions in the process were necessary to ensure operational continuity in under-served areas. She stressed that promotions were guided by need-based decisions rather than ethnic considerations, though she acknowledged that improvements in documentation and transparency were necessary.
As pressure mounted, MPs reiterated that the commission had only seven days to present a revised report detailing promotions by region, sub-county, and ethnic distribution. Julius Melly warned that failure to provide a transparent and defensible explanation would reignite calls for punitive action.
Tribalism Rocks TSC Promotions: MPs Outraged Over Ethnic Bias Latest Teacher Upgrades.
