Parliament stop Ruto’s education reforms 

Parliament stop Ruto’s education reforms 

Parliament stop Ruto’s education reforms 

The presidential working group on education reforms’ suggestions have not been  carried out due to opposition from members of parliament (MPs). It was illegal, according to National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula, to  implement proposals before they had been approved by Parliament.

The MPs’ job, he continued, is to legislate, so before the suggestions are adopted for implementation, Parliament must hold a debate on them. He stated, “I repeat nobody; no minister of government can pretend to make law or act in a way that suggests they have made law, because they have no authority to do so.”

Omboko Milemba, a member of parliament representing Emuhaya, brought the issue to Parliament and said that the proposals had sparked a dispute between the Ministry of Education, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), and labor unions, among other stakeholders in the education sector.Milemba, who serves as the president of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), stated that these recommendations have to be put on hold until they have been approved by Parliament.

He said, “The suggestions put the TSC’s authority under Article 237 (3) of the Constitution in jeopardy by recommending that the Ministry of Education disclose the grades for pre-service teachers.The working group also advised that, in violation of the Constitution, the Ministry develop a comprehensive educational system that would govern all educational levels as one institution.

Additionally, the working group suggests that the Ministry hire special needs employees for institutions, which would conflict with TSC’s mandate.Other lawmakers agreed with Milemba’s assertion that the recommendations ought to be submitted to parliament as a bill.

According to Samuel Chepkonga, an Ainabkoi MP, “the Working party’s recommendations remain recommendations until they are reduced to a bill and presented to this House or until they are reduced to a regulation and presented to this House and referred to a committee.”

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah stated that after consulting with the Education Ministry, he will update Parliament on the situation.”Since the law is the law, I don’t have anything to contribute. No one, not even a presidential working group, has the authority to pass laws, not even Cabinet Secretaries. The best they can do is make recommendations, and those that deal with statutes must start with this House if they are enacted, he said.