Public petitions committee to engage TSC over hardship zone criteria

The National Assembly Public Petitions Committee has resolved to meet the top leadership of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) regarding the criteria used in designating hardship zones across the country.

This follows a petition by the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Machakos branch, which, through Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka, raised concerns that Mwala and Kalama sub-counties are excluded from the list of hardship areas, despite facing similar challenges as neighboring zones that qualify.

“As a committee, we will meet TSC leadership and even the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to find out the criteria they use to categorize areas as hardship zones,” Kitui West MP Edith Nyenze, who chaired the committee meeting, said.

The petitioners noted that teachers in the two sub-counties are denied hardship allowances, even though they are surrounded by regions that are already gazetted as hardship areas.

“Mwala is geographically located in the midst of Yatta, Kitui Rural and Mbooni East which are all hardship zones,” said Musyoka.

“In Kalama Sub-county, teachers in 33 public secondary schools are entitled to hardship allowance, while 9 schools have been left out,” he added.

Mavoko MP Patrick Makau urged the Committee to also question the TSC on how it determines house allowances for teachers in metropolitan areas. He said there is a glaring disparity in the allocation of housing allowances between teachers in similar urban regions.

“It’s unfair for a teacher in Mlolongo in my constituency to get a lower house allowance than their colleagues in the nearby Embakasi South Constituency. The two areas are in the same Nairobi metropolitan region,” Makau said.

Members of the committee agreed that there is a need to harmonize house allowances for teachers working in metropolitan regions to ensure fairness.

In a separate session, Ndhiwa MP Martin Owino presented a petition on alleged unfair labour practices at Sukari Industries Limited in Homa Bay County.

According to the petition, there are claims of discrimination between local and foreign workers, including unequal pay for equal work and holding separate meetings for different staff groups.

“My prayer is that this committee inquires into the alleged discrimination, unfavorable working conditions and unfair treatment of both outsourced and directly employed workers whether local or foreign,” Owino said.

The committee assured Owino that they will investigate the matter and even conduct a site visit to the factory. However, they requested more details to facilitate the inquiry.

“Those who have signed the petition should be categorised into the ones that belong to Sukari Limited and those who belong to outsourced companies,” Nyenze directed.