The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Nancy Macharia’s Deputy had been sacked over claims of corruption and abuse of office.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer Kennedy Juma Mulunda was deemed culpable of using his position to intimidate, solicit tenders from principals and abuse his office.
The Deputy TSC CEO is claimed to have used his position to intimidate more than ten principals from various schools in Western and Nyanza Regions into awarding contracts to some companies.
Following probing done by a team of commissioners, they found Dr Mulanda guilty of using his position to threaten to deal with teachers who did not do as he wished if he becomes the TSC CEO once Dr Nancy Macharia leaves office.
According to Dr Macharia, she acted under instructions from the Commissioners following investigations from principals and found overwhelming evidence against Dr Mulanda.
“Pursuant to the provisions of clause 10 of your employment contract, the commission has made a decision to terminate your employment contract with effect from June 20, 2022,” read part of the letter from the TSC CEO.
According to reports, TSC Chairperson Dr Jamleck Muturi had appointed a special committee to probe the allegations of abuse of office against Dr Mulunda and came up with a report in February.
Dr Macharia was not part of the disciplinary committee with only the Commissioners mandated to carry out the investigations under the directives of the TSC Chairperson.
Dr Mulunda is accused on various dates in the last two years to have used his office to influence, coerce and intimidate staffing officers to effect the transfer of several school principals in Nyanza and Western Regions outside the allowed modalities of carrying out transfers.
The TSC Deputy CEO is also facing charges of coercing principals from various public schools to award tenders to companies that are associated with him contrary to the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Act.
Ten teachers called in from those regions testified against Dr Mulunda with one principal testifying that Dr Mulunda had influenced the school to award the tender of laboratory chemicals and equipment to a company that was not among those that were prequalified.
Dr Mulunda is also accused of interfering with some schools’ Boards of Governors and influencing them to award tenders to companies without following the regulations set for procurement. Besides, there were also schools where he coerced school principals into awarding tenders to his relatives.
Another principal testified before the TSC investigating committee that Dr Mulunda used to visit schools and introduce suppliers of various items required in schools such as stationery and printing papers and demand that the schools award the tenders to those suppliers.
TSC provides that for a teacher to be transferred, the regulation code must be followed. The transfers must consider various factors such as adequate distribution and optimal utilization of teachers, availability of vacancies and the need for replacement, existing staffing norms, medical grounds and other reasons that require a transfer to be conducted by the Commission.
Dr Mulunda was urged to show cause why his contract of employment could not be terminated on the grounds of breaching the Public Officers and Ethics Act.
However, Dr Mulunda denied the allegations.