Leader of Majority Aden Duale is on the radar for forcefully pushing for the appointment of his alleged girlfriend Leila Ali to the Teacher service commission despite being incompetent and receiving a negative recommendation from the Parliamentary Education committee.
Duale, while rejecting the report on Wednesday, tabled a motion before the House seeking to approve the nomination of Mr Ng’ang’a and Ms Ali to the TSC in what is set to test President Kenyatta’s clout in Parliament.
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) nominees Mbage Njuguna and Leila Abdi yesterday appeared before a parliamentary committee on Education and Research.
The fate of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nominees to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will be decided next week after Parliament resolved to escalate the debate on its committee’s report to the full plenary.
Parliamentary Education and Research Committee had resolved to reject the nomination of Mbage Njuguna and Leila Ali, citing a lack of experience.
The House team chaired by Julius Melly rejected the two nominees on grounds that lacked minimum experience in the education sector and did not demonstrate an understanding of teachers’ welfare.
However, House Majority leader decided to oppose the report because he was pushing for a candidate Leila Abdi Ali.
“I am in a very precarious position today as Leader of Majority, I have never intended to oppose the report of a committee but today I oppose the report by the Education and Research Committee,” said Mr Duale.
“The procedure for appointment of members to the teachers’ commission is outlined in the Constitution, TSC Act and the Public Appointments Act … this committee had no other business to go and fish out something outside this and the observations of the committee are contradicting the Constitution.”
Leila Abdi Ali shocked the committee when she revealed that she holds dual citizenship and applied to be a Kenyan citizen in 2006. She told the committee that she was born in Somalia and holds both British and Kenyan citizenship but is ready to denounce her UK citizenship if confirmed to the position. The committee chair and Tinderet MP Julius Melly told her to provide evidence of her citizenship and that of her parents by the end of today, “We shall confirm with Immigration,” he said.
She also presented a Curriculum Vitae (CV) with glaring mistakes which she described as ‘an oversight error’ and was unable to satisfy the committee with answers on her education and work backgrounds. She said that she did not confirm the dates listed in the CV. “The contradiction that we are finding in the nominee is wanting,” Pamella Awuor, Migori County Women Representative said.
Ms Leila Abdi Ali failed to produce her academic certificates for Kenya Certificate of Primary Education(KCPE) and Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education (KCSE).
Instead, Ms Ali produced a photocopy of Form Four mock exams done in 1996 and a degree certificate from London South Bank University.
The CV shows she is currently a senior Auditor at Baker Tilly Merali and a board member serving her second 3-year term at the Competition Authority of Kenya. She worked for Olympic (South) Limited in London between February 2004 and December 2005 and worked for Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) between November 2004 to September 2005.
Between 2004 and 2006 she was studying at Uxbridge College, the UK and London South Bank University, UK respectively. Her degree certificate shows she graduated in 2004. A testimonial from the University signed by Mr P. Bolwes shows she enrolled for a degree in Accounting and Finance in 2001 and cleared in July 2004.
She insisted that she has an O level certificate but could not produce it saying she did not collect the document after graduating.
The committee also put her to task over her nationality after she revealed that she was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, but was raised in Kajiado, Kenya.
“I was born in Mogadishu but I studied in Kenya in Oloitoktok. I see myself as a Kenyan,” said the nominee, who also disclosed that she has dual citizenship of Kenya and United Kingdom.
She acknowledged that she got a letter detailing all the documents she needed before appearing. When asked why she just availed a result slip of her mock exams she said: “I left before the results came out, and when I came back, I did not follow up.” Wilson Sossion directed her to avail O and A levels original certificates. “We need her KCSE authentic certificate and KCPE,” he said.
Ali Maalim Hassan, a private citizen, had written to the committee questioning her education background and that as per the selection she is supposed to represent North-Eastern yet she is not from counties in the regions. “I would like you to look at me at my competence skills as opposed to where I was born,” Leila told the committee.
“Her appointment was opposed by Ali Maalim Hassan, a resident of Mandera, who said the nominee was not a resident of North Eastern since the position had been reserved for the region.
The committee demanded the academic documents as had been indicated in an invitation letter from Parliament. Some questioned if she completed secondary school.
The committee vice-chairman Amos Kimunya put her to task over inconsistencies in her curriculum vitae and university academic certificates saying she lacked 10 years’ experience that one needs to serve as a commissioner with TSC.
There were also inconsistencies on when she graduated from London South Bank University and started to work both in Kenya and the UK.”
Mbage Njuguna, a lawyer, said that the value he will be adding to TSC will be an oversight, policy development, strategic direction, leadership and corporate governance and maintain its independence. “I am very receptive to the need of independence,” he said.
His mode of dispute resolutions between the employer and teachers will be to look for avenues to solve issues of concern rather than confrontations and there should be good labour relations between the two. “There is a need to create harmony within the teaching fraternity,” he said.
He described the burning of school as ‘madness’ saying that communication would help solve a lot of the issues in schools. “It’s just an issue of communication between the school leadership and the students, it is an issue we can manage,” he said. Once he joins the commission, he says that he will ensure they have included money for capacity building in their annual budget proposals.
The two names were forwarded by the president from a list of nine forwarded to him by a selection panel chaired by Zetech University Vice-Chancellor John Munene Njenga. If confirmed they will replace Cleophas Tirop, Salome Gichura and Saadia Abdi Kontoma who retired after their six-year tenure expired. The three positions attracted 24 applicants.
Leave a Reply