One of the top most officials of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has faced the sack over allegations of corruption, abuse of office and demanding tenders from principals.

Deputy chief executive officer of TSC Dr. Kennedy Juma Mulunda, has been found guilty of using his position to threaten over 10 principals from various schools in Western and Nyanza into awarding some companies contracts.

A group of commissioners investigated the matter and found Dr Mulanda guilty of threatening to deal with teachers who defied his demands should he succeed Dr Nancy Macharia in becoming the next chief executive officer.

His termination was communicated to him in a letter dated June 20, signed by Dr Macharia, who is in-charge of the secretariat staff.

According to Macharia, the decision to sack Mulunda was informed by the overwhelming evidence against him, which was found by the commissioners after investigations from the principals.

Mulunda was issued with a termination letter after he had taken through a disciplinary committee in January. Further, he has been accused of using his position as the deputy CEO to intimidate the commission’s officials in the regions.

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“Pursuant to the provisions of clause 10 of your employment contract, the commission has made a decision to terminate your employment contract with effect from June 20, 2022,” reads the letter by Dr Macharia.

Sources indicate that TSC chairman, Dr Jamleck Muturi, appointed a special committee to investigate the allegations of abuse of office against Dr Mulunda and compiled a report in February.

Macharia did not sit in the investigating committee since disciplinary mandates are purely done by the commissioners under the directives of the chairman.

Among the allegations, Mulunda is accused of abusing his office by influencing, coercing and intimidating staffing officers to effect transfer of several principals in Western and Nyanza outside the approved transfer matrix in disregard of the commission’s transfer policy. This happened on different dates in 2021 and 2022.

He is also accused of coercing principals from various public schools to award tenders to companies associated with him against the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Act.

Among the tenders he demanded were fumigation services in various schools.10 teachers invited by TSC testified against him.

A principal even testified that Mulunda influenced the school to award the tender of laboratory chemicals and equipment to a company that was not among the prequalified suppliers.

In some of the schools, the principals told the commissioners that Mulunda engaged chairpersons of boards to award the tenders to the companies without following procurement regulations. In other schools, he coerced the principals to award the tenders to his relatives.

For principals who refused to heed to his instructions, the heads testified, that he would threaten them with transfers or initiated their transfers as a way of punishing them.

One principal testified before the TSC investigating committee that Mulunda would visit schools and introduce suppliers of various goods such as stationery and printing papers and demand that the schools award the tenders to them.

Another principal told the commissioners that Mulunda introduced him to a security firm based in Nairobi and demanded that he awards the company security services tender, which he declined.

Between September 2020 and September 2021, Mulunda is also accused of having visited more than five schools in the regions with directors of various companies associated with him and some family members and demanded that the schools award him tenders.

According to TSC, transfer of teachers must follow the code of regulation. The transfers must consider the need for adequate distribution and optimal utilisation of teachers, availability of vacancies and need for replacement, existing staffing norms, medical grounds and other compelling grounds as the commission may consider necessary.

In one of the transfers, Mulunda is accused of instructing a commission’s official to transfer a principal citing poor performance and stakeholder hostility.

The committee established that the said school’s academic performance was on upward trend since 2018.

In the TSC’s termination letter, Macharia said that Mulunda was invited to show cause why his contract of employment could not be terminated on the grounds that he breached the Public Officers and Ethics Act.

“The commission has carefully reviewed your case, the evidence presented before it as well as your written response and determined that you were guilty of the allegations raised against you which is in violation of the terms and condition of your contract,”  said Macharia.