If you are a teacher in Kenya, the Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC) requires you to file the TSC Wealth Declaration in full. In this article, I will show you how to complete this necessary procedure like a professional in order to ensure compliance with the TSC. The whole procedure can be completed online on the TSC portal from the comfort of you home or office.
The declaration of wealth is usually mandatory for anyone who is seeking any government job or political office. The government of Kenya mandated teachers to undergo the TSC declaration of wealth procedure in an attempt to prevent corruption. The assumption is that if one cannot account to the sources of their wealth, then it means any unexplained personal wealth must have been acquired through corruption.
All employees working in all of the government commissions is required to file a biennial declaration of wealth. Apart from the Teachers’ Service Commission, there are about 15 constitutionally independent commissions in Kenya. These include:
- National Police Service Commission (NPSC)
- Kenya National Human Rights Commission
- Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commssioin (EACC)
- Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)
- Parliamentary Service Commission
- Public Service Commission (PSC)
- Judicial Service Commission (JSC)
- Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA)
- Salaries and Remuneration Commission
- National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC)
- National Land Commission (NLC), and of course the
- Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC)
Of all these commissions, two were created by an act of parliament. These are Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.
Teachers can file their TSC declaration of wealth online at the the Teachers’ Service Commission portal. This process is straight forward and easy to do.
In order to complete your TSC declaration of wealth, please follow the following procedures.:
2020 TSC Wealth Declaration Procedures
- Visit the TSC website portal online
- Click on the Services online menu
- Go to Teachers online services sub menu
- Click on the Declaration of Assets, Income and Liabilities
- A prompt will appear asking you to enter your TSC Number
- Enter your TSC Number and then click “Next”
- Sign up by entering your correct contact details
- Use your TSC Number and password to log in
- Read all instructions and click “Next”
- Fill in the TSC Wealth Declaration form. You will be required to declare your wealth, your spouse(s)’ wealth as well as your children’s wealth
The TSC Wealth declaration form is very user-friendly. If you have any questions, you can always call the helpline number at 0722 208 552 or 0777 208 552
Current, schools are closed throughout the country due to coronavirus and hence the right time to file all the necessary TSC sanctioned procedures online. The Teachers’ Service Commission website is available 24/7 to make that possible. There has been reports that schools may reopen in September but that has not been definitively confirmed.
Until such confirmation is made by either the Education CS or president Kenyatta himself, it is safe to assume teachers will resume their teaching work early next year, probably in January 2021.
Should one want to file the wealth declaration on paper, the form is available online in a PDF format. You can download it, fill it in and then mail it to the TSC office. Be sure to include you TSC number on the form to ensure that the head office can be able to document your form properly.
Most teachers and other public servants are unaware about requirements to file their wealth declarations biennially. For example, by December 2019, it was reported that only 11 National Government and 19 County Public Service Board and 17 County Assembly Service Boards have submitted their wealth declaration forms. This is less than half (39%) of all total commissions.
To put that into perspective, the report included 87,000 public employees from independent commissions. That is 41,410 National Government Employees, 42,062 County Boards employees and 3,875 County Assembly Board employees.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) overseas and verifies all wealth declaration submissions in Kenya. After a teacher completes their TSC wealth declarations, the TSC will then forward the filled documents to EACC for verification purposes.
“The [wealth] declarations are meant to detect and prevent corrupt practices, evaluate potential conflicts of interest, promote transparency and accountability and increase public confidence in government,” Wabukala, the EACC chairperson said.
Upon verification of wealth declaration of a public servant or any government employees, all undeclared wealth or wealth that has been acquired through fraudulent means belong the government. The EACC has the authority to seize and confiscate any such assets.
Penalty If TSC Wealth Declaration Is Missing or Wrong
According to Section 26 to 34 of the Public Officers Ethics Act, Public Officers (including teachers) have to declare their wealth every two years. The wealth declarations should include the officer in question, their spouses and all of their child or children under the age of 18.
Failure to comply with this legislation attracts hefty penalties, confiscation or forfeiture of a property or both.
For example, section 32 reads: “AÂ public officer who does not correctly declare his/her income, assets and liabilities is liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding one million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both”
Forfeiture of Unexplained Assets
If upon filing the TSC Wealth Declaration the Ethics and Anti-Corruption officers find some unexplained assets, they have full authority to seize such a property. But the EACC have to prove to court that such assets were acquired through corruption before the courts can allow EACC to sell, auction or dispose of such property.
In the event that the EACC fail to prove corruption has occurred, the high court may make an order prohibiting the disposal of or the transfer of the said property.
On the other hand, if the EACC have evidence that the unexplained property or assets were acquired via corruption means, they will seize the assets and impose penalties on the accused public officer. Additional penalties may include:
- If charged with corruption or economic crime: suspension on half pay with effect from the date of the charge.
- If convicted: suspension without pay pending the outcomes of the appeal.
- If the appeal is upheld (or period for launching the appeal lapses): dismissal from service
- Further disqualifications from holding any public office for a period of ten years.
It is worth noting that teachers protested about these strict rules in 2016. Apparently, these teachers were unaware that they are indeed public officials and the Public Officers Act equally applies to them as well.
To show how important the completion of the TSC wealth declaration process is, the TSC actually refused to pay 3,500 teachers and secretariat staff in March and April 2020 for failing to declare their wealth on time.
The said teachers and secretariat staff were expected to declare their 2017/2019 Income, Assets and Liabilities via the online TSC wealth declaration portal. But they did not meet the deadline allocated for the completion of this required exercise.
“Consequently, the commission has stopped the employees’ salaries for non–compliance from March and April 2020 payrolls,” said Dr Nancy Macharia (TSC Secretary) in a circular dated April 14, 2020.
