The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer and Secretary Dr. Nancy Njeri Macharia term is finally coming to an end.
Macharia who has applied for a terminal leave that starts in March 2025 will retire from the Commission on 30th June 2025 after serving for a decade.
Her two terms of five year each as the Commission CEO are however marred with controversies and myriad of accusations.
She is accused of causing teacher job stagnation by injecting Career Progression Guidelines (CPG) which has hampered teacher promotions.
In January 2012 she issued an internal memo that stopped promotion of teachers who upgraded their academic certificates.
This led to outcry especially from primary school teachers who acquired various Diploma and Degree certificates from colleges and universities.
Ms Macharia is also accused of introducing bad TSC policies that teachers view as oppresive.
This include teacher delocalization policy which has since been abolished by the Kenya Kwanza government.
Corruption in teacher promotion and employment is said to be unprecedented during her term at the helm of the Commission.
Slots are being sold to the highest bidder. Under her watch replacement of teachers exercise has been skewed and is devoid of merit with politicians taking part in recruitment process.
TPAD which TSC is using to promote teachers is said to represent nothing in schools. Teachers say TPAD is just a routine exercise and nothing substantial from it in an exercise that takes millions in budget.
Macharia is also accused of being behind shoddy teacher medical insurance scheme. Teachers have over time raised the issue of poor medical services in various AON Minet hospitals.
Ms. Macharia is viewed by majority of primary school teachers as having a hand on death of their union Knut, orchestrating Wilson Sossion’s ouster and installing a puppet union leadership.
Macharia took over the Commission from Gabriel Lengoibon, who retired in June 2015, after emerging as the best.
Her appointment followed the conclusion of a competitive recruitment process that started on May 1, 2015, when the position was advertised and attracted 69 applicants of which four were shortlisted.
Ms Macharia is the 9th Commission Secretary/CEO after Mr Jesse Muhoro (1967 to 1974), Mr James Kamunge (1974 to 1977), Mr Duncan Mwangi (1978 to 1980), Mr Joseph Lijembe (1980 to 1982), Mr Jackson Kang’ali (1982 to 1998), Benjamin Sogomo (1998 to 2003), Mr James Ongwae (2003 to 2004) and her predecessor Mr Gabriel K Lengoiboni.
Born in Murang’a in 1963 Ms Macharia became the first female CEO of the commission since its inception.
She holds a Master of Education (Policy and Management) degree from Bristol University, UK and a Bachelor of Education degree in English/Literature from Kenyatta University.
After graduating from Kenyatta University with a Bachelor of Education in English/Literature in 1987 she started working at Kahuhia Girls’ Secondary in Murang’a, where she remained for five years until she was promoted to deputy head teacher at Kianderi Girls’ Secondary in the same county.
Mrs. Macharia is credited for automating teacher services hence making things easier for teachers.
Automated services include Tpay (Payroll), Leave, Casualty (Entry/Exit), TPAD, EDMS, Wealth Declaration and now Pension.
In 2014, she was awarded the Order of Grand Warrior by former President Uhuru Kenyatta for her contribution to development in and outside her workplace.
She was a member of the team that steered the national integrated data system for TSC, including negotiating and getting funding from the World Bank.
In her CV, Ms. Macharia has listed travelling, gym, music, farming and assisting the less fortunate as some of her hobbies. Nancy Macharia Biography.
