For the last four years Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has had a Director General/Chief Executive Officer. The CEO is Dr. Julius Jwan.
To many employees in the lower cadre of the institute, they only know him by name, seen his signatures on internal memos, watched him on television but they are yet to feel his presence and leadership.
Dr. Jwan has earned himself a nickname- ‘a tourist’ because of the back to back journeys both in the country and abroad.
However, late last month the lower cadre employees who have stagnated in one job group for over a decade had hope when Dr.Jwan announced that all the staff will have to undergo suitability test so that they can be placed according to their careers and qualifications.
Unfortunately, the exercise has been fought by the powerful cartel and it’s at the vague of collapse. Kimotho who is the biggest beneficiary had to call a meeting last Friday complaining that he was not consulted before the start of the exercise.
Kimotho who operates in mystery, has had a better curse of the staff having been a stumbling block to their welfare. He worked as a maintenance technician, at the then KIE before moving to the National Museum only to emerge back in 2008 taking over the position of Senior Deputy Director – Educational Media Services.
He has made sure that those whom he worked with before left the National Museum, do not progress through succession growth. The mystery man as call him has secured numerous jobs to his relatives, friends among others.
The latest being July last where he convinced the management to advertise some posts in the media department which would have been filled through succession growth only to award his friends from outside.
KICD advertised one post for Chief Studio Technical Operator (job group M) but during recruitment, two people were employed.
Kimotho was out sourced by Mr. Johnson Wachira who currently holds the position of Chief Engineer (KICD scale 13) equivalent to job group Q in the civil service. A post he got through sycophancy and a hand in looting during the installation of new studio equipments.
“I worked my way up. I don’t care what you say. You can also try yours,” Wachira told the engineering staff during a staff meeting.
Over sh. 70 million had been stolen safe for a whistle blower who made the perpetrators contribute and has the equipment bought.
The two, together with Dr. Mary Wambaria, the Deputy Director, Electronic and Emerging Media lacking skills of media management despite having papers in the same field have run down the media department.
Their work is to pass only those projects that have kick backs at the expense of killing productions that have been allocated the budgets.
The placement interviews that were to cut across all departments involving staff below senor management have since been suspended until further notice.
Dr. Jwan found it difficult to align the staff especially those in the media who have been fought by the management for many years.
Main reason being, they have always championed for equality when it comes to promotions and other matters touching on staff welfare.
All teachers who work at KICD benefited during the Lydia Nzomo regime whereby they were promote with or without qualifications.
The lowest teacher in KICD is in job group N that is KICD scale 11 while the lowest non-teaching staff is job group D (KICD 2).
The Nzomo regime witnessed people move five job groups at once. For example Dr. Mary Wambaria, the Deputy Director, Electronic and Emerging Media who by then was just a degree holder and in job group L moved to S. The upward movement benefited only teachers owing to the fact that Nzomo was a teacher by profession.
The staff is divided according to professions as teachers look down at non-teaching staff. Lest they forget that, the other lot has also trained in various fields which might be far better than them. A trend set by Nzomo and her clones.
The KICD Governing Council led Dr. Sarah Ruto has found the waters to be mucky as they tried to kick off the placement interviews.
At the beginning of the exercise before it came to halt, the council members were shocked to learn that a good number of the employees were a higher as studio technical operators but they ended up working as clerks in human resource and ICT sections.
The plan was hatched by Kimotho and his team to award his relative and friends at the expense of technicians and operators who were supposed to move up as their colleagues exited.
Tenders
Kimotho, Solomon Kathuo, formerly, a geography and Economics teacher now the Chief Finance Officer and Emmanuel Mulwa, Assistant Director Human Resource and two senior officers in procurement dish out tenders to ‘self made suppliers’.(Companies they are associated and to those suppliers who offer the highest kick back).
Currently, there no competitive tenders advertised, they their friends, advice them to do quotations through five different companies. All this happen as Dr. Jwan is ever in the skies.
During the past regime, the two corruption gurus met several visits from the from anti-corruption offices but the matters that were being investigated had to be shelved after they oiled the hands of the officers.
Kimotho and Kathuo have rendered the services of maintenance engineers/technicians and those of ICT useless by out sourcing their services. Novel Technologies East Africa Limited has remained a permanent KICD service provider since Nzomo’s time.
These two gurus of corruption and team have not spared teachers from outside KICD who participate in various seminars and as panelists discussing matters education. The teachers are paid less figures against what is indicated in the budgets and at some point they are forced to sign.
Others have been forced to part with part of the money that they have been paid.
STAFF
The institution has a population of 500 employees, majority of them being from one region.
KICD has over 50 managers with no work to do and are drawing huge salaries without any defined roles. The lowest being in job group Q
Dr. Jwan has failed to man the institution owing that the former CEO had mixed things and it has been difficult to find neither the head nor the tail in order for him to organize and move KICD forward.
Lydia Nzomo, as a person left, but her rule is still intact despite the institute having Dr. Jwan at the helm.
Nzomo had strategically placed her clones in positions that call shots in all matters that pertains KICD, which is more like a department of the Ministry of Education.
To pursue and guard her interests which range from tenders ,staff recruitment and promotions, Nzomo had to build a strong team which include, Solomon Kathuo, Chief Finance Officer, Emmanuel Mulwa, Deputy Director Human Resource, John Kimotho, Senior Deputy Director – Educational Media Services.
These three top managers are the ones who dictate the daily business of the institution. They have shoved Dr. Jwan to traveling around the country and abroad earning himself a title of a ‘tourist’. In this course, the three are left busy milking dry the institute’s accounts.
During the regime of Lydia Nzomo, she promoted all teachers working in various capacities in the institute. The promotions many of which were not procedural saw some teachers raise five job groups at ones. Those who were in job group K,L jumped to Q and R.
During this process, being a teacher she side-lined the media department which is in charge of developing curriculum support materials like TV and radio programs. Other departments that were not catered for include: – Accounts, juniors in human resource department, security among others.
This created bad blood between teachers and media trained professionals. She turned teachers who have no idea in media productions to program producers.
As a result of recruiting, relatives and friends in the teaching profession who failed to deliver while they were teaching KICD has found itself in a text book fiasco.
The institute, Director however says the books had been in place since 2005 and they had to choose the cheapest doesn’t hold water. One is left wondering, cheap in what, quality, shallowness or what? That being the case, the books must have passed through the normal process.
What about the set books? The Fasihi books have crystal clear mistakes and somebody had eaten to sneak them in.
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