BYE: NANCY MACHARIA LEAVES TSC

She will be 60 this year thus set for retirement but has a contract running up to 2025.

Confusion is rife as to when exactly the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Secretary/CEO, Dr. Nancy Njeri Macharia would be leaving office following two sets of rules in the Public Service.

The Commission extended her term in office for another five years in June 2020 meaning that she is supposed to vacate office in June 2025, but a circular released by the Public Service Cabinet Secretary Aisha Jumwa in February this year puts a new spin into the fate of the fiery TSC boss.

In February 2023, the government warned its relevant authorities against extending the service of public officers who have already attained the retirement age, with the CS reminding the Public Service Commission (PSC) that the mandatory retirement age for all civil servants is 60 years and 65 for people living with disabilities.

Consequently, Jumwa suspended all requests for extension of service presented to her table and also revoked the existing cases in a move she stated, would open way for proper succession management within Public Service.

The mandatory retirement age was reviewed by the government from 55 years to 60 years on April 1, 2009 while in November 2020 the PSC turned down requests from a number of civil servants who had requested for extension of service from 60 to 65 years.

With the new Government directive, the question is; will Dr. Macharia vacate office on the basis of the mandatory retirement age of 60 years or will she complete her term which was extended to June 2025?

Dr. Macharia will attain her retirement age of 60 this year, considering that she was born in 1963. Due to the lack of clarity on this matter, speculations are currently gathering steam within the teaching fraternity and TSC headquarters.

Dr. Macharia rose to the helm of TSC after taking over from her then immediate boss Gabriel Lengoiboni who retired in June 30, 2015 after holding the position for a good 11 years. Under her predecessor, Macharia had been serving as the Head of Teacher Management, a powerful docket that calls the shots within the teaching service.

Upon completion of her first term in 2015, she was swiftly awarded another mandate of five years despite opposition from stakeholders and educationists who were uncomfortable with what they considered her unpopular policy decisions.

Some of her controversial policies include the delocalization of teachers which almost broke teachers families but later repealed by Parliament last year, Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) for teachers introduced in 2018 which replaced the Scheme of service on teachers’ promotion.

The CPG later led to introduction of the Teachers Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) which is an online appraisal of teachers that broke the relationship between the Commission and the then Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion.

She was at one point blamed for being a force behind the wars between KNUT and Kenya Union of Post primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) between 2018 and 2020 when the then KNUT and TSC disagreed on various policies especially the implementation of CPG on promotion of teachers, rolling-out of the current Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) and the implementation of the 2016-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Apart from her Doctorate degree, Dr. Macharia holds a Masters in Education (Policy and Management) degree from Bristol University, UK and a Bachelor of Education degree in English/Literature from Kenyatta University; and trained both locally and internationally in Corporate Governance, Public Procurement, Policy Formation, Information Communication Technology (ICT), Proactive Management and Business Excellence Models, among others and a member of the Kenya Association of Public Administration Management (KAPAM) and Institute of Directors.

She is the 9^th Commission Secretary and CEO after Jesse Muhoro (1967 to 1974), James Kamunge (1974 to 1977), Duncan Mwangi (1978 to 1980), Joseph Lijembe (1980 to 1982), Mr Jackson Kang’ali (1982 to 1998), Benjamin Sogomo (1998 to 2003), James Ongwae (2003 to 2004) and Lengoiboni (2004-2015).

By education.co.ke