How TSC overpaid tutors more than Ksh433 million
By Mercy Mwai, July 24, 2025Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has exposed how the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) overpaid teachers’ salaries by Sh433.9 million, with the majority of these funds remaining unrecovered.
The audit report for the year ending June 2024 reveals that Ksh296.4 million, or 68 per cent of the total overpayments, had not been recovered for more than a year.
While the TSC has made progress in recovering Ksh222.3 million, significant gaps remain in the recovery process.
“Management indicated that the overpayments had grown over the years due to the previous manual reporting systems that were inefficient. Although progress has been made in the recovery of the salary overpayments, further effort is required in recovering the outstanding amounts,” the report states.
The audit further notes: “In the circumstances, the controls over recovery of salary overpayments are weak.”
Beyond salary overpayments, the report highlights several other failures within the TSC, including delayed pension payments, inefficient transfer systems, incomplete construction projects, and questionable land ownership documentation.
Pension processing delays
The commission’s pension processing system shows significant backlogs.
Out of 14,823 pension cases handled, 5,842 remained pending as of June 30, with only 8,981 cases processed and submitted to the National Treasury.
A detailed review of 305 retiree files revealed that while 285 files (93 per cent) had been finalised and released to the Treasury, 20 files remained pending due to missing documents or incomplete processing.
“In the circumstances, delays in processing the pensioners’ files impact negatively on the timely release of pensioners’ dues,” the report warns.
Teacher transfer system
Gathungu criticised the TSC’s top management for failing to provide adequate information about teacher transfer requests, including the number of pending and approved transfers.
The current system, while allowing teachers to self-initiate transfer requests for committee review, suffers from poor coordination between departments.
The report raises concerns that the transfer system lacks proper integration with the department responsible for processing transfers, creating unnecessary delays.
Additionally, TSC management failed to provide sufficient information about measures taken to address these systemic gaps.
Project delays
Two major construction projects – county offices in Machakos and Kilifi – have experienced significant delays that risk cost escalation. Originally contracted on July 13, 2022, and June 28, 2022, at costs of Ksh57.6 million and Ksh64.9 million, respectively, these projects were scheduled for 60-week completion periods.
Despite initial completion dates of September 5, 2023 (Machakos) and August 21, 2023 (Kilifi), both projects received extensions to May 8, 2024, and May 1, 2024, respectively.
As of June 26, 2024, completion rates stood at only 80 per cent for Machakos and 86 per cent for Kilifi.
The audit found no evidence of further contract extensions to cover incomplete work, while the validity of performance bonds could not be confirmed due to missing contract files.
“Delays in project completion could lead to escalation of costs while value for money has not been realised from the investment in the construction of the two county offices,” the report says.
Land ownership concerns
The TSC holds eight pieces of land worth Sh1 billion across Bomet, Kiambu, Kitui, Nanyuki, Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, and Machakos counties, all donated by respective county governments. However, the commission possesses only allotment letters rather than proper title deeds.
“Rightful ownership to land in absence of title deeds could not be confirmed while they are susceptible to encroachment,” the report notes.