TSC Bribes and Scams: Inside Teachers' Corrupt Recruitment Racket

TSC Bribes and Scams: Inside Teachers' Corrupt Recruitment Racket.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC), a body set up by Article 237 of the Constitution as an independent agency charged with the task of registering, recruiting, promoting, as well as managing teachers within the public schools.

Nevertheless, it has been one of the most corrupt government departments with Kenya Police coming second in most cases. In a 2017 scholarly paper, rampant corruption in TSC procedures was reported, such as nepotism during the hiring of school board members where school boards favor their own locals or family members over qualified outsiders.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) National Ethics and Corruption Survey 2024, more recently, disclosed that TSC placement services are 100 percent prevalent in terms of bribe payment, average bribe being KES 72,665- 9.24 percent of the national bribes.

The probability of bribe demand in TSC placement is 1.58 times per service requested which is more than most services provided in the public. In general, it is presented in forms of bribery (52.1% of those observed), favoritism (22.5%), and nepotism (11.8%).

MPs Dishing Out Employment Letters.

One of the biggest allegations is that of politicians especially MPs handing out TSC employment letters and making it a partisan process.

In April 2025, Muranga Woman Representative Betty Njeri Maina announced that government-aligned MPs were receiving letters at the State House-e.g. 11 MPs representing Kiambu each were to receive 20 letters (220 letters all), whereas she and another MP representing Muranga had been delivered some letters on behalf of their constituencies.

Maina alleged that MPs who missed the meeting did not serve their electorate, since they missed such opportunities.

In the same way, in 2024, South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro bragged of being sent 100 TSC letters to represent his constituency, and Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu distributed letters at a funeral in Kisii.

In a different instance, an MP in Kisii was accused of handing out letters of TSC and Kenya Forestry Services at a social event leading to a scuffle.

This was condemned by unions such as Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) as being unlawful since it deprives deserving candidates opportunities to work and provides cronies or family members with jobs.

KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu claimed to have spotted MPs distributing letters in funerals and community meetings undermining the integrity of the education system. In a case of one MP, he received 100 letters, and others in central Kenya received 20 letters depending on political affiliation.

In April 2025, former TSC CEO Nancy Macharia refuted these claims, saying that hiring is conducted according to professional standards, but the critics claim that the available evidence points in a different direction.

Recruitment Bribes and Scam.

Bribes are also in full swing with claims of MPs and TSC agents selling letters. In April 2025, KNUT alleged that some of the MPs were selling TSC letters at a price of KES 200,000 each.

In late December 2025, some of the desperate teachers in the Konoin constituency of Bomet County also succumbed to a brazen employment scheme with more than 20 willing teachers reportedly paying between KSh 300,000 and KSh 500,000 apiece to rascals in charge to secure Teachers Service Commission (TSC) jobs-only to be left high and dry.

A victim shared her story of getting a promised job when she borrowed an amount of KSh 400,000 and when the job did not materialize, the families found themselves in debts as unemployment levels continued to increase.

This event led to the furious locals besieging TSC offices, which, however, temporarily closed down, and the commission initiated an inquiry due to renewed claims of political manipulation in the distribution of employment letters.

With Kenya about to recruit thousands of additional teachers in senior school transition (2026) with Competency-Based Curriculum, such scams point to an opportune scammer market targeting job-seeking desperation.

Employment bribery has also been on the rise nationally with eightfolds rise in bribes in certain industries and the TSC services such as receiving a TSC number being an average of KES 2,000 in bribes.

There are also transfers that are accompanied with bribes, which are devolved to counties. The survey by EACC revealed that 97.2% of the bribe cases were not reported because of fear or distrust.

"A service seeker is likely to be asked for a bribe 1.58 times while obtaining placement from Teachers Service Commission (TSC)."

Impacts and Broader Context

This dishonesty widens the unemployment of more than 400, 000 trained teachers, wastage of resources and encourages a culture of success being based on connections as opposed to merit.

It also has an impact on the quality of education, whereby unqualified employees might be in the classrooms. There is also political intercession whereby relatives are coerced to join the teaching career.

Although the government has pledged to employ more teachers, the unions insist on transparency.

Repeated Reactions and Suggestions.

TSC asserts that the employment practice is a merit based exercise however, the presence of the politicians has been criticized by the unions and government advisors such as Moses Kuria.

Systemic changes in TSC, educating the citizens on ethics, and increased enforcement are suggested by the EACC. In the case of your article, it is important to stress that accusations are prevalent, but prosecutions are in rare cases, and it is therefore necessary to implement independent audits and digital hiring to reduce abuse.

Teachersupdates.co.ke believes that meritocracy is essentially being subverted in terms of recruitment of teachers where rampant bribes, scams, and political influence by MPs who have been issuing employment letters.

Stakeholders should focus on systemic reforms to enhance transparency and accountability in order to fight this. TSC should be audited by an independent body, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, on regular basis, the penalties applied to those who take the bribes and scammers should be harsher, and whistle blowers should have the protection of channels so that to contribute to the reporting of bribery cases that are of alarming rate 97.2% unreported.

Unions such as KNUT, KUPPET propose the use of merit-based only panels that are not based on nepotism. Also, ethical practices should be promoted through awareness campaigns among the people, as well as the cooperation of the TSC, Ministry of Education and the civil society, and will create a culture of integrity.

Eventually, it will take a hundred percent accountability of all the involved to regain trust in teachers recruitment. The policy makers such as the ones who were involved in the delivery of the letters should be subjected to investigations and penalties; the leadership of TSC ought to be subject to open performance parameters; and the government should deliver on the commitment of mass employment without compromising the standards.

The tenets of sound governance and quality education will be destroyed when jobs are offered to the highest bidder or those who have political connections and not the most deserving.

The Kenyans have a right to an education system that will not allow them to acquire opportunities in terms of education based on merit and not by buying and influence. The moment has come to act decisively and jointly--before another generation of teachers and students is forced to pay with systemic rot.

TSC Bribes and Scams: Inside Teachers' Corrupt Recruitment Racket.