TSC CEO Nancy Macharia/FileTeacher employer TSC has flagged as fake reports doing rounds online indicating that the commission intends to cease direct sacco deductions from teachers’ salaries effective February 2025.
The fake announcement purported to inform teachers that the Teachers Service Commission has envisioned the change to simply payroll processes and give teachers greater control over their finances, a step the authors of the fake communication termed “transformative”.
“Teachers will now have to actively manage their sacco payments on their own. Instead of relying on automatic deductions, they will use modern payment methods such as mobile money and online banking,” the fake notice reads in part.
“Beware of fake news!” TSC said on its official X account on Tuesday.
Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Saccos) play a pivotal role in encouraging and fostering financial empowerment and stability among various cadres of professionals in the country, including teachers.
The saccos provide valuable financial services to their members countrywide, including access to loans at favourable interest rates.
Kenyan teachers have an array of saccos to choose from, including but not limited to Mwalimu National Sacco and Elimu Sacco Society.
Monthly member remittances to the saccos are usually done directly from teachers’ salaries by the TSC.
Despite the management of the finances being the sole mandate of the saccos, the Kenya Teachers’ Sacco’s Association (KETSA) was formed in 2007 under Cap 108 of the laws of Kenya to address the operating challenges of the primary member Saccos as well as provide a collaborative forum for sharing and learning from one another.
KETSA is led by a board of directors drawn from the executive board of all the member Saccos with the CEOs being the technical team.
The executive board of each Sacco forms the KETSA delegate’s forum.
“The main objective of KETSA is to advocate for the interests and challenges affecting the member Saccos in their day-to-day operations of their business,” the association says in its policy statement.
