Matiang’i: Headteachers transfer exercise unstoppable

Acting Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has warned politicians interfering with the transfer of school principals saying that they will be arrested and charged in court.

Speaking at the Kenya School of Government on Friday, Matiang’i, who is the Interior Security CS, also announced that County Commissioners will now chair County Education Boards and will be responsible for national government functions in their regions.

“We will not backtrack on the headteachers transfer exercise. We will arrest anyone interfering with the process. County Commissioners will be responsible for the safety of principals who have been transferred,” said a defiant Matiang’i.

This comes even after six Makueni Members of County Assembly (MCAs) were arrested on Thursday after storming St. Joseph’s Girls Kibwezi in an attempt to block a new principal from taking over.

In a similar incident, three MCAs in Bungoma County also stormed Friends School Kamusinga Boys in Kimilili on January 10 and ejected the new principal Alex Maina.

Matiang’i also dismissed concerns raised by the politicians saying that those fighting the transfers only want to stop corrupt principals from getting posted to other schools.

“What you are seeing is a desperate attempt to protect corruption in those schools by colluding with the teachers,” he said.

On January 5, Bungoma Governor Wycliffe Wangamati held a meeting with the new principal at Friends School Kamusinga and Lugulu School and told them that he was not going to accept school heads who are coming from “poor performing” schools to take charge of the two schools.

“Under no circumstances shall the Bungoma Community that I am part of and serve as governor accept the new principals in those schools,” Wangamati said as he addressed mourners in Kimilili on the same day.

“We are ready for any principal from anywhere in Kenya, on condition that they come from schools with mean grades equal or near equal to that of Kamusinga and Lugulu Girls,” he stated.