• Lawmakers voted to oppose the report rejecting the nomination of Mbage Njuguna and Leila Abdi to the TSC.
• Majority Leader Aden Duale dismissed the Education committee saying the members violated the provisions of the law in rejecting the nominees.
Lawmakers on Wednesday put up a spirited fight to save two nominees to the Teachers Service Commission rejected by the Education committee.
In a plenary debate, MPs said the decision Tinderet MP Paul Melly-led committee was against the Constitution.
The lawmakers voted to oppose the report rejecting the nomination of Mbage Njuguna and Leila Abdi to the TSC.
The Education committee had said that the two did meet the cut to fill vacant posts at the teachers’ employer.
Mbage was dropped on account his appointment would lock out youths from being represented at the TSC.
In the case of Leila, MPs cited inconsistencies in her employment history in her curriculum vitae.
“The nominee is also in the same age group and therefore the commission would lack representation of the youth,” the vetting report signed by committee vice-chair Amos Kimunya read.
The team said they were unable to determine whether Leila had at least 10 years' experience in education, governance, management or law.
But MPs led by Majority Leader Aden Duale dismissed the assertions, saying the members violated the provisions of the law.
Duale said the report rejecting the nominees was against the Constitution, the TSC Act, and the Parliamentary Approvals and Appointments Act.
“This report contradicts the Constitution. There are also a number of contradictions in their observations and recommendations,” the Garissa Township MP said.
Duale cited a section of the report which states that Ng’ang’a has required academic qualification and management capabilities related to the TSC role.
“This matter of age that the committee used as grounds to reject the nominee is not in the Constitution, TSC Act, and Parliamentary Approval Act.”
The Constitution and TSC Act do not prescribe age limit for a commissioner.
Duale said the committee violated provisions of Article 27 of the Constitution which prohibits discrimination on basis of age.
On Leila, the plenary concluded that the TSC Act has no express provision saying that a nominee must come from such a region but “members must reflect the diversity of the country".
MPs further argued that there was no way the House could say Leila was not qualified yet it had approved her appointment as member of the Competition Authority.
“How can the same House rise today to say the same person is not qualified yet she presented her papers in the first appointment?” Duale asked.
He was joined by Minority leader John Mbadi who restated that motion on appointments must be considered thoroughly and fairly.
“We must be fair to the persons… the reasons given to deny Njuguna the job are beyond his control. He can’t change his age as that would cost him a forgery charge,” the Suba South MP said.
Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris, her Isiolo counterpart Rehema Jaldesa and Suna East’s Junet Mohammed weighed in on the concerns by the members.
But it did not go down without a fight as Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba raised concerns the members of the committee were being gagged.
He was ejected from the assembly even as Jaldesa pointed out there were no adverse remarks on the nominees “only for the rejection to be introduced in the last paragraph.”
“They have not given us a valid reason to support their recommendation. We cannot reject a man who steered the Law Reform Commission just because of its age,” Junet said.
Speaker Justin Muturi said following the situation, it could neither be said that the House has approved the nominees nor rejected the appointment.
In reference to the motion which asked the House to reject the appointment of Mumo Matemu as EACC chairperson in 2011, the speaker said a motion with a positive question would suffice.
“The approval of an appointment is an affirmative decision of the House. The onus is on the committee to give notice phrased in positive terms. I may not want to deviate from this position,” Muturi ruled.
In this regard, the Leader of Majority gave a notice of motion with a positive question on the appointments. Had any of the nominees been rejected, fresh applications would be called.
The TSC nominees interview panel’s report – which was presented to the Education Committee shows that nine nominees were rated.
Isaac Wamuthe scored the highest points at 75.2 per cent followed by Mbage at 75.0 per cent and Margaret Lesuuda at 71.3 per cent.
Pius Nduathi scored 69.8 points followed by Salesa Adano who got 68 per cent while Leila Abdi scored 62.3 per cent beating Mary Rotich and Florence Njau who scored 62.2 and 62 per cent respectively.
Three of the nine successful applicants are from Central; one was from Nairobi; two from Northeastern, and three from Rift Valley.
(edited by o. owino)