TSC chief is relieved that the High Court dismissed the corruption petition.
Nancy Macharia, the CEO of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), has won a significant victory after the High Court rejected a plea to remove her from office due to corruption charges.
In a ruling by Justice Lawrence Mugambi, the court determined that the petition submitted by Francis Owino, an activist, was premature.
In it, Owino accused Macharia of grossly misappropriating and misusing public funds totaling more than Sh3 billion for salaries, in violation of Chapter Six of the Constitution.
The judge dismissed the petition and ruled in Macharia’s favor, stating that there was insufficient evidence to back up the accusations made against the TSC boss for the court to conclude that she was unfit to serve in public office.
Justice Mugambi stated, “I firmly believe that there is not a shred of supporting evidence to support the accusations against the TSC chief executive for the court to declare her removal.”
The petition’s accusations listed a number of problems that TSC was allegedly having under Macharia’s direction.
In his petition, Owino claimed that the Auditor General had linked the TSC to a salary scandal worth Sh3 billion, in which the chief executive was accused of overpaying some employees in spite of the agency’s teacher shortage.
Along with accusing the commission of not paying over Sh2 billion in taxes that were withheld from staff salaries, the petitioner pointed out that certain employees who had not paid back their salary advances kept taking out new ones, which raised concerns about potential collusion to embezzle commission funds.
Awino also noted that according to the Auditor General’s report, 32 teachers had an unpaid balance of salary overpayment totaling Sh33,780,614 after the payroll for the 2020–2021 fiscal year was reviewed.
There is uncertainty regarding the recoverability of the remaining balance because the repayment period for these amounts exceeds the teachers’ respective retirement ages.
The recoverability of these money was called into question by the Auditor General’s report, which revealed that several teachers had substantial unpaid amounts from overpayments.
A teacher was overpaid Sh4.8 million in one instance, and the repayment plan would take an unworkable 44 years to recover.
The petition sought findings that Macharia had violated constitutional requirements and should be held accountable, claiming that her activities had resulted in egregious misbehavior and corruption inside TSC.
A mandamus order requiring the EACC to look into Macharia and, if necessary, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to start criminal charges against her was demanded by the petitioner.
However, the judge pointed out in his ruling that any questions about leadership transgressions ought to have been brought up with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) prior to going to court.
The court reaffirmed that the EACC is principally responsible for enforcing Chapter Six of the Constitution.
Judge Mugambi also noted that the claims made by Owino were based on an auditor’s report and lacked subsequent investigations to corroborate the findings.
However, no additional research has been done to support the assumptions in the Auditor’s report. There are no verified annexures or witness statements to back up the claims, aside from the broad conclusions.
According to the court, these are hearsay claims that don’t support Macharia’s guilt, Mugambi stated.
“An investigation should have been started to gather evidence supporting the allegations for a proper assessment,” the judge ruled.
TSC chief is relieved that the High Court dismissed the corruption petition.
