NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 5 \u2013 Former Director-General of the Public Service Regulatory Authority (PSRA) Fazul Mahamed has protested what he called unfairness in the implementation of new medical access rules.<\/p>\n
Mahamed and other players in the education sector claim it leaves teachers financially exposed and effectively \u201ctaxed twice\u201d for healthcare services.<\/p>\n
Effective December 1, 2025, all teachers under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) lost the medical allowances previously embedded in their salaries and are now required to pay out-of-pocket \u201cfees for service\u201d under the Public Officers Medical Scheme Fund (POMSF), administered through the Social Health Authority (SHA).<\/p>\n
This is in addition to ongoing statutory SHA deductions reflected on their pay slips.<\/p>\n
The development has sparked outrage among teachers, union officials, and policy observers who argue that the transition was executed without adequate consultation, public participation, or protection of teachers\u2019 welfare\u2014despite affecting more than 400,000 educators nationwide.<\/p>\n
For years, teachers received medical allowances as part of their basic pay, funds that were later redirected to support a medical insurance cover procured by TSC through a consortium of private insurers.<\/p>\n
Although the shift drew criticism\u2014primarily due to inadequate specialized facilities in some regions\u2014teachers still benefited from two parallel systems: their statutory NHIF (now SHA) contributions and the private insurance paid for using the scrapped allowances.<\/p>\n
However, the latest transition to POMSF has collapsed this dual structure, leaving teachers with a single option even though they argue they are still funding both systems.<\/p>\n
Mahamed said this is a bad deal for teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is incomprehensible that a Kenyan teacher is required to pay statutory deductions to SHA and still pay at the point of service under POMSF. That is the very definition of double taxation,\u201d said Mahamed who has publicly criticized the TSC\u2019s administrative actions.<\/p>\n
He said the unions representing the teachers need to address the matter.<\/p>\n
Teachers say the new arrangement strips them of all the medical privileges they previously enjoyed\u2014either through allowances or the private insurance cover\u2014while imposing new financial burdens with no corresponding benefits.<\/p>\n
Many argue that if private insurance is being phased out, then medical allowances must be reinstated to cushion them.<\/p>\n
Educators also accuse TSC of violating constitutional principles, including the right to fair administrative action, public participation in policy changes, and the economic rights of workers.<\/p>\n
The TSC has yet to issue a comprehensive public statement addressing the concerns or clarifying how the new deductions and service fees align with constitutional requirements and labour protections.<\/p>\n
As discontent grows across the country, teachers are calling on Parliament, education unions, and civil society to intervene and push for immediate reforms\u2014including the reinstatement of medical allowances or a reversal of the POMSF implementation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 5 \u2013 Former Director-General of the Public Service Regulatory Authority (PSRA) Fazul Mahamed has protested what he called unfairness in the implementation of new medical access rules. Mahamed and other players in the education sector claim it leaves teachers financially exposed and effectively \u201ctaxed twice\u201d for healthcare services. Effective December 1, 2025, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}