Sossion Calls for Probe into TSC Corruption, Reveals Cost For Hiring, Promoting Teachers.
Wilson Sossion, a former secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), recommends investigating the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for suspected corruption.
Speaking on Monday, Sossion claimed to have seen widespread corruption at the union, including teachers offering payments in exchange for employment.
Sossion questioned the constant hiring of new teachers despite the absence of job advertisements, alleging that applicants collude with government officials to secure these posts through graft.
Sossion asserts that the cost of employment as a P1 teacher is Ksh. 350,000, with government officers selling some of these employment certificates. A graduate must pay Ksh.500,000 to secure employment, while a promotion requires Ksh.150,000, he clarified.
Ready to Testify
Sossion said he is willing to be a witness in all of these forensic processes as an insider who has worked in this space. He noted that he is ready to defend it in a court of law or anywhere because this is a very serious matter. “We are talking about the destruction of the lives of the children of this country,” he said.
Sossion urged the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), and the Auditor General to investigate the claims as soon as possible.
“The rot at TSC is so severe that even angels would weep. “This may necessitate sending the commissioners and CEO home,” he explained.
He proposed that the three institutions concentrate on four crucial areas: the financial system and transactions, specifically third-party remittances, the hiring and promotion practices of teachers in the past five years, and a probe into unconstitutional policies within TSC.
Sossion cited deeply ingrained corruption in the school sector as the primary issue undermining the nation’s educational quality.
Nationwide Teachers’ Strike
This comes amid a nationwide teacher strike, in which teachers have pledged to lay off until the government responds to their demands.
These demands included the immediate implementation of the second phase of the 2021/2025 amended CBA, the promotion of 130,000 teachers, the permanent employment of 46,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers, and the immediate remittance of third-party deductions owed to their respective organizations.
KNUT stated that after talks with TSC, the teachers’ employer announced that it had promoted 51,232 instructors, refunded the third-party deductions, and was in the process of implementing the modified CBA.
Meanwhile, teachers from the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) have persisted in coming to the streets to demand better health care, promotions, and the confirmation of Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers to permanent and pensionable status, among other demands.
90% of the KUPPET teachers’ requests had been satisfied, according to Oyuu, who also emphasized that the JSS instructors would receive permanent employment verification in a few months.
Sossion Calls for Probe into TSC Corruption, Reveals Cost For Hiring, Promoting Teachers.
