In the middle of the coronavirus global pandemic, the Teachers Service Commission, TSC, has said that it will not pay over 3,500 teachers and secretariat staff who by the 14th of January 2020 failed to file their wealth declaration.
The commission released the sad news through a circular dated the 14th of April 2020.
In the circular, TSC CEO said, those who did not comply with the government’s directive of filing the wealth declaration online have been removed from the TSC payroll.
However, the commission says that those teachers will only be returned to the payroll after meeting certain conditions.
The conditions stated by TSC includes; writing a letter through the headteacher or principal or supervisor, explaining why they did not follow the instructions set by the government of declaring their wealth.
Besides, their immediate supervisors must confirm that the teachers or the workers are currently active.
The circular reads ” The Headteacher/Principal/Supervisor to confirm in writing, that the employee has been in active service, and /or has been teaching all along”
After writing the letter it should be signed by the supervisor, and forwarded to the teachers service commission headquarters through the county director stroke sub-county director, says the circular.
All the Kenyan government employees were mandated by law to file their wealth declarations online for the year 2017/2019. The procedure entailed declaring individual Income, Assets, and Liabilities by the 31st of December 2019 through the Wealth Declaration online portal.
Because of the non-compliance to the public ethics act of 2003, of declaring wealth, the over 3500 employees of the Teachers Service Commission TSC will miss their March and April 2020 salaries.
On 30th of December 2019, over 45,000 TSC teachers and staff had not complied with the wealth declaration mandate. Therefore, the commission extended the deadline by two weeks that ended on 14th of January 2020.
While issuing the previous circulars on wealth declaration the teachers commission had warned that those who fail to declare their wealth, or give false information, will be fined Kenya Shillings 1 million, or fase imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or face both.
