Nancy Macharia, the long-serving Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), has announced that she will be retiring early next year, marking the end of her decade-long tenure.
Macharia, who took office in June 2015 and was reappointed in 2020, shared the news during her address at the annual general meeting of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) in Mombasa on Monday.
In a heartfelt message to KNUT, Macharia expressed her deep appreciation for the union’s professionalism throughout her tenure.
“Sincerely, I have no words to express my most profuse appreciation to KNUT for the utmost professionalism with which you have dealt with me over the last nine years,” Macharia said.
“As I approach the tail-end of my 10-year service as secretary and CEO of the TSC, I can only look back with an incredible tinge of satisfaction over our enviable work relationship. I wish you the very best as you work to elevate the teaching profession to even higher standards,” she added.
Macharia’s time as TSC CEO has been marked by both praise and controversy, including the delocalization of teachers which almost broke teachers families but later repealed by Parliament and her dealings with KNUT.
While she was viewed as an underdog, her surprise power move that would stamp her legacy came in 2017 when the commission negotiated for the controversial 2017/2021 CBA.
Signed by both the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), the Sh54 billion agreement initially appeared to be a win for teachers.
However, what followed was one of the greatest rifts between teachers and their employer.
Critics, including KNUT’s then Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, termed the agreement punitive and suffocating, ultimately leading to the downfall of the once-mighty union.
Sossion became Macharia’s fiercest critic, accusing her of stripping the teaching profession of its nobility.
The fallout from the CBA gave rise to two contentious policies: Career Progression Guidelines (CPGs) and the Teacher Performance and Appraisal Development (TPAD) programme.
Introduced in 2017, the CPGs aimed to manage and promote teachers more systematically but faced staunch opposition from KNUT.
Similarly, TPAD, designed to retrain teachers, was viewed by many as overly demanding and punitive as it required every teacher to undergo retraining and would be issued with a practice certificate with a five year shelf life. This meant the teachers would be required to renew the practice certificate after every five years.
Teachers were also required to pay Sh6,000 each year that would cover, among other things, the cost of retraining.
In protest, Sossion issued a strike notice in January 2017 but TSC blocked the move in court.
However, following a court case challenging the continuous professional guidelines(CPG) the court ruled in favour of Knut, axing the CPG.
But this did not sit well with TSC as Macharia ordered a review of the payroll, excluding Knut members from salary increment on the third cycle of the 2018 pay deal.
She argued that TSC lacked a criteria to determine promotion of teachers under KNUT after the union opposed the policy in court.
This affected 103,624 tutors, who included principals, their deputies and senior teachers as their salaries stagnated while that of teachers not in the union was reviewed upwards.
Further, TSC threatened to recover benefits Knut members had enjoyed since 2017.
The aim was to put pressure on teachers to quit Knut.
Supremo
Nancy’s authoritarianism was also exhibited after the weakening of KNUT and emergence of National Teachers Pressure Group (TPG) an outfit that has become a target of TSC’s merciless anti-union tactics.
TPG led by their chairperson Martha Omollo have become victims of a TSC punitive teacher transfer scheme aimed at TSC critics and teachers’ unions. Mrs Omollo was transferred from a Nairobi school to a Trans Nzoia County school. Mrs Omollo was transferred when she became too vocal against the TSC management. This was Nancy’s way of silencing her and other members.
When they challenged the teacher’s medical scheme terming it frustrating, they were hit with transfer letters.
“TSC under Nancy Macharia has demonstrated its vile commitment to the destruction of teachers’ union through unfair labour practices and outright evil tactics that now include the transfer of teachers ostensibly to far-flung, hardship destinations.The situation at the TSC must be called out for what it truly is; a reign of terror.” Citizen TV’s Linus Kaikai at the time addressing the problem during a broadcast.
Macharia will proceed on terminal leave this month, paving the way for the appointment of a new CEO.
