MP wants removal of TSC Nancy Macharia from office says she is past 60 years.
Dr. Nancy Njeri Macharia, the Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), is a woman under siege.
Macharia is being investigated for serving past the legal retirement age.
The National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee has inquired about Dr. Macharia’s continued employment even after she officially attained retirement age of 60 last year.
The committee’s chairman, Tharaka MP George Gitonga Murugara, has openly questioned why Dr. Macharia continues to work after Kenya’s mandatory retirement age for public personnel.
Specifically, he asked to know if she would pay back any money that were earned illegally during this time.
The reason for Dr. Macharia’s continuous employment is because her term was renewed in 2020, bringing her tenure up to June 2025, an extra five years.
The TSC has defended this extension by pointing to legislative provisions that categorize Dr. Macharia as a state official as opposed to a regular civil servant, exempting her from the mandatory retirement regulations that apply to regular public employees.
The role of Commission Secretary/CEO is defined as a state officer under TSC Act of 2012, Section 16(3), which specifies periods of service that are not reliant on customary retirement age restrictions.
This legal reading is consistent with Article 260 of the 2010 Constitution, which defines state officers as officials who serve according to the terms of their mandate as opposed to retirement regulations based on age.
After an intense hiring procedure, Dr. Macharia took over as the new employee on June 30, 2015, replacing the retiring Gabriel Lengoiboni, who served for 11 years.
Her leadership has been characterized by a number of challenges and improvements in the field of education, impacting administrative and policy choices that have an impact on teachers all throughout the country.
The dispute concerning Dr. Macharia’s employment raises more significant questions about how Kenyan public officials’ retirement plans should be interpreted and implemented.
Even if her term extension until 2025 is authorized under the law, concerns about the justice and equity of such extensions remain, particularly when it comes to posts that are essential to government and public service.
When Macharia’s tenure expires on June 30, 2025, she will formally depart government.
MP wants removal of TSC Nancy Macharia from office says she is past 60 years.
