Senior Advisor to President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisors, Moses Kuria, has reprimanded politicians for dishing out teachers’ employment letters.
In a statement on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, Moses Kuria claimed that the trend where politicians claim to possess recruitment letters had peaked in some parts of the country.
Without mentioning the political leaders involved, Kuria further claimed that they had made it a habit to openly parade employment forms in public rallies and funerals.
Kuria, who served as Trade Cabinet Secretary before being tapped to advise Ruto’s economic advisors, condemned the trend, maintaining that it risked eroding progress made in the education sector and the country as a whole.
According to the country’s Basic Education Act of 2013, only the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has the power to hire and fire teachers.
“There are several great ideas on how best to destroy a nation. But the most glittering of recent times is politicians parading teachers’ employment forms in public rallies and funerals. It’s so sad, especially for us, the products of great teachers. We have sunk this low, sadly,” Kuria’s statement, published on his X, read.
KNUT concern
His sentiments came days after the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) urged TSC to be considerate in hiring teachers amid uproar over the promotion of 25,000 tutors.
Addressing the press on Saturday, April 19, 2025, the KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu said that the commission should prioritise recruiting teachers who completed their college education earlier than recent graduates.
“The commission must be fair and human. The idea of picking on a teacher who completed teachers college in 2023 and leaving those who completed college in 2010 leaves more questions than answers,” he said.
“And as a union, we must state categorically that even in employment, you must be very fair, because we have teachers who are over 50 years old; where will they go? Because they are still out there, they must be employed,” he added.
TSC deny allegations
Amid concern and looming scandal, TSC Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia denied claims that politicians have been handing out teacher appointment letters, insisting that the hiring process is handled professionally and within laid-out procedures.
“I read this in the newspapers. It is giving TSC a bad name since we are the ones mandated to recruit teachers,” Nancy Macharia told MPs while appearing before the National Assembly’s Committee on Constitutional Implementation early in April 2025.