The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has reminded teachers that they have up to 31st December 2019 to declare their wealth or risk being fined up to a million shillings.
In a circular released by the commission on Monday, 9th December 2019, the teachers are supposed to fill in their wealth declaration forms as soon as possible and send their sealed envelopes of the same to the TSC headquarters by the end of the year.
The commission’s boss, Nancy Macharia, in the circular addressed to teachers, said that the filling of the form within the said days was mandatory and any teacher who will not have sent their wealth declaration forms to the commission on the deadline will be considered non-compliant and consequences would follow.
School heads will be required to indicate all teachers who will not comply, those will not be on leave and those who may have died in the course of the declaration process.
In Kenyan law, Section 26 of the Public Officer Ethics Act 2003, revised 2009, requires that all tutors declare their wealth biannually.
Likewise, the Public Service Commission (PSC) said that all 842,900 government, county and workers in government-owned corporations must declare their incomes, bank deposits, assets like land, real estate, and vehicles.
It states that “Every public officer shall, once every two years submit to the responsible commission a declaration of the income, assets, and liabilities of himself, his spouse or spouses and his dependent children under the age of 18 years.”
Teachers, being a larger group of the Public Service fraternity, are expected to strictly adhere to the provisions on the declaration of income, assets, and liabilities.
The declaration of wealth by all holders of public office is done to ensure that the individuals rightfully own their property and that they were not engaged in bribery.
In the past, public officers, including politicians have had to declare their wealth, something that has been pushed for and encouraged even by the president himself.