This archive report was first published on 15 July 2019.
On July 15, 2019, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Wilson Sossion wrote to the Head of Public Service, Joseph Kinyua, requesting that teachers be allocated seats on the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) board.
The request comes as three seats on the commission are set to fall vacant next month, following the retirement of Vice-Chairman Cleophas Tirop in April and the impending departure of Commissioners Salome Gichura and Saada Abdi Kontoma.
According to Sossion, it is an anomaly that teacher unions, who were instrumental in the formation of the TSC in 1967 and have a recognition agreement with the commission dating back to 1968, are not represented on the board.
“Teachers union should be allowed to nominate at least two commissioners to ensure that trade movement maximises interaction with TSC for the harmonious negotiation of terms,” Sossion wrote in the letter.
The TSC will be left with six commissioners following the departure of the three commissioners, who were appointed in March 2015 after a year of drama that saw several names rejected in the National Assembly.
