The untold cold war between CS Amina and TSC’s Nancy Macharia

Who will blink first in the ongoing supremacy battle between Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) chief executive officer Nancy Macharia?

The two are battling over various issues in the education sector, including quality assurance in schools, punishment for teachers who misuse government resources in the course of their duties and determination of entry grades to teachers training colleges (TTCs).

For a long time, the ministry has been uncomfortable with TSC which seems to have taken over almost all its functions.

The latest row that has laid bare the differences is the decision by Ms Mohamed to lower entry grade to TTCs, which TSC has rejected despite several meetings to resolve the issue.

Ms Macharia has now sought the intervention of the High Court after she snubbed a meeting called by Ms Mohamed on Tuesday to resolve the matter as directed by the Labour court on December 20.

Instead she sent her officers accompanied by lawyers who maintained a hardline position throughout the meeting, insisting Ms Mohamed has no power to determine entry grades and cited various constitutional provisions.

The two have not been seeing each other eye to eye since the debate started in October when Ms Mohamed lowered the entry grade to TTCs and directed Ms Macharia to enforce the order.

Education

While lowering the grade, Ms Mohamed said it was to cater for students in 17 marginalised areas in the country which, she said, were not producing enough candidates to join TTCs.

This did not go well with TSC which employs over 312,000 teachers for public schools, which fall under Ms Mohamed.

In her battle with the CS, Ms Macharia has the backing of Attorney General Kihara Kariuki who in an advisory opinion in November dismissed the cabinet secretary on the issue.

Tsc Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia

Kenya Union of Post Primary Education (Kuppet) is also behind Ms Macharia. It had a case in the Labour court but has withdrawn it and instead filed an application at the High Court.

However, Ms Mohamed is enjoying the support of Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).

Caught in the midst of these turf wars are 3,450 trainee teachers who had already reported in October and paid fees but are now at home waiting for the two government officers to end their fight.

 

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