Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has blasted calls for the transfer of School principals to be stopped, saying the move is part of the government’s policy and it won’t be halted. Addressing County Commissioners during a security meeting in Kabete, CS Matiang’i faulted the rising trend of harassing newly installed Principals while at the same time threatening to eject them from their assigned posts. “Delocalization of principals is a government policy. The Teachers Service Commission works with us and we support the decisions made by them,” he insisted, “We aren’t going back on any of the decisions we made. If you hope we will change our minds, know that we can’t.”
He said if MCAs interfere with the schools setting then they should be arrested and they should be arraigned in court, “We have lived with this behaviour for too long and people think that’s the way to live,” he said. He further said that if the trend is allowed to continue, then local leaders will interfere with appointments at other vital positions, from the OCS to the County Commissioners, indicating that if they aren’t content with the appointment and transfer of school heads then the trend will affect other offices too. He said the bulk of the responsibility lies with the County Commissioners who should take charge whenever any public servant is disturbed within their areas of jurisdiction.
CS Matiang’i revealed that one of the reasons why there is discontent among leaders when it comes to transfer of school principals is that they’re trying to save the culture of corruption, adding that a recent check revealed some schools have big debts which were amassed in a fraudulent way. “They don’t want them (principals) to remain because they love them but they just want to perpetuate the culture of corruption which is hurting the access to education,” said Matiang’i.