• Abdi was testifying in A case in which he sued the TSC of dismissing him
• He said he sought a DNA test to establish paternity, but the TSC ignored him without any reasonable explanation.
A former primary school teacher accused of defiling and getting a pupil pregnant says his employer illegally fired him.
Abdullahi Abdi told Employment and Labour Relations Court that he was employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in 1994 with a gross salary of Sh23,364 before being interdicted in 2008.
Abdi was testifying in a case in which he sued the TSC for dismissing him. The hearing continues on January 15, 2020. The commission had accused him of defiling a Standard 7 pupil and impregnating her. But Abdi said he requested for a DNA test to establish paternity after the pupil gave birth, but the TSC ignored his request without any reasonable ground. He urged the court to compel the TSC to pay his terminal benefits and reinstate him.
“I was not accorded an opportunity to question the complainant on the allegations that were facing me at any given time. Actually, there was no evidence produced to show that I sexually assaulted the pupil and that I was responsible for her pregnancy," he told the court.
Abdi said he appeared before the commission's disciplinary committee on May 23, 2009, but the complainant or her relatives were not present, hence the meeting was adjourned. He added that the second meeting was in August 2009 and, again, the pupil or her parents did not show up, but the committee went ahead and fired him.
Abdi accused the TSC of only relying on hearsay and questioned why the complainant never reported to the authorities given the weight of the accusation.
"The allegations were framed against me to destroy my reputation and career," he said.
The court heard that he received a letter of interdiction from the TSC dated March 20, 2008, on an allegation that he had breached the TSC Act and the code of regulations for teachers. He argued that the TSC accused him of sleeping with the pupil between November 14 and 16, 2007, at his house in Rhamu town, Mandera.
Abdi said the decision to interdict him was done in bad faith without giving him a chance to explain or defend himself before the school management committee and before the TSC.
“I got traumatised, suffered emotional torture and psychological anguish that resulted in mental disorder. My family has suffered during the period I was mentally ill as I was the sole breadwinner," he said.
(Edited by F'Orieny)