Education Ministry under scrutiny as politicians provide employment letters to new QUASOs
Concerns have arisen regarding the recruitment process of Quality Assurance and Standards Officers (QUASOs) by the Public Service Commission (PSC), which the Ministry of Education (MoE) subsequently assigned to field offices.
Educators are worried that the MoE irregularly appointed over 110 QUASOs from the middle of the previous year to the start of this year without publicly advertising or interviewing candidates.
It is notable that those who received the positions mainly came from the teaching profession, and prominent politicians and influential government officials issued the appointment letters.
A senior official within the Government at the MoE, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation, verified the hiring and placement of the QUASOs to remedy the officer shortage in the field.
“It is accurate that the Ministry employed the officers to fill the gap of QUASOs in the field. We have shortages of officers at our sub-counties, and these roles need to be occupied. However, we found the number of individuals recruited to be excessively high,” stated the officer.
The senior official, knowledgeable about the developments at the MoE headquarters, acknowledged that the Government did not post any job advertisements or conduct interviews prior to deploying the mentioned personnel.
“The Education CS is responsible for declaring the openings and informing the Public Service Commission (PSC) to publicly announce the roles, shortlist candidates, conduct interviews, and appoint the officers by providing them with letters. The Government’s recruitment agency opted for a different approach,” remarked the MoE insider.
Individuals familiar with these occurrences have urged the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Authority (EACC) to swiftly intervene and investigate the selection process of how teachers were appointed as QUASOs without adhering to the standard procedures.
Their concerns arise from assertions that from July 2024 to February of this year, the MoE, facilitated by politicians and specific senior government officials, discreetly distributed appointment letters to teachers who were either their relatives or political allies to join the MoE as QUASOs.
To substantiate these claims, Education News embarked on a fact-finding mission across several counties to ascertain if officers had been recently recruited as QUASOs.
The results indicated that certain teachers had entered the QUASO department through the influence of top politicians and powerful entities within the Government.
The purported irregularities appear to have generated considerable unease among the current officers in the QUASO division of the MoE upon realizing that some newcomers were supposedly appointed to positions of higher authority than theirs.
“It demotivates us to witness teachers from the classroom being promoted by politicians to oversee us in the field. Additionally, it further diminishes our morale, knowing that no recent job advertisements or interviews were conducted for these appointments,” expressed a senior QUASO from the Eastern region.
It is also posited that certain unnamed Members of Parliament on the Education Committee were exploiting the existing (QUASOs vacancies at the MoE to favor their relatives and associates.
“This tendency of politicians to circumvent the law to benefit their supporters is complete impunity and needs to be halted. Seasoned officers feel demoralised by such conduct. How can one impose inexperienced teachers and other newcomers on seasoned officers, and how can one even have the audacity to hire them in higher job classifications? queried the enraged QUASO.
Recently, the reputation of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was placed under intense examination after some Members of Parliament were captured distributing employment forms in their constituencies. This is occurring at the time when the Commission has subjected other Kenyans to a competitive process in the recruitment of teachers. The public has raised concerns regarding how those with connections are receiving free employment forms while others face challenging assessments.
It is important to highlight that the Ministry of Education has not advertised officer vacancies for the last four years but has proceeded to make replacements. Previously, the government declared a halt on hiring within the civil service. ”
