Selection panel lists veterans for Teachers Service Commission top job

Familiar faces have been lined up for possible appointment as chairperson of the Teachers Service Commission, the government’s biggest employer.

Former TSC Secretary Benjamin Sogomo will battle it out with former Director of Education Naomy Wangai for the position as he seeks to return at the top of the employer of 280,000 teachers.

The position has been vacant since the institution became independent under the current Constitution four years ago.

The selection panel, chaired by former Education Permanent Secretary Karega Mutahi, shortlisted the two among nine candidates who have been invited for interview starting Monday. They were selected from a list of 58 applicants.

The others are Acting Quality Assurance and Standards Director Mohamed Mwinyipembe, Mr Simon Kavisi, a deputy secretary at the TSC, and Nakuru County TSC Director Patrick Nyagosia.

Senior Deputy Director of Education Albert Fred Ekirapa, Ms Anne Kalei, Ms Pamela Kimkung and Mr Habat Sheikh also made it to the shortlist.

STAFFING POLICY

Mr Sogomo was Secretary and Chief Executive of the TSC between 1998 and 2003 before he was made a Permanent Secretary of Co-operative Development and Marketing.

He was the originator of the staffing policy that requires a newly recruited teacher to work in his or her first station for a minimum of five years.

The policy has helped to stabilise staffing of schools in hard-to-reach areas.

Ms Wangai was the Director of Education before the position was split into four.

She is remembered for coming up with a task force report in the early 2000s, which, among other things, recommended a ban on parental visits in schools.

Former Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development Director Lydia Nzomo, who was at the top of a previous selection list, has not been shortlisted, despite having applied.

COURT CASE

Prof Mutahi’s panel asked the public to submit any relevant information on those shortlisted.

Candidates for the position are required to have 15 years experience in education, governance, management and law.

Last week, the High Court directed that the selection of candidates for the chairperson’s position could continue but barred the panel from submitting names of nominees to President Kenyatta until a case seeking to stop the recruitment is heard and determined by Thursday.

Mr Wycliffe Nyakina, who filed the suit, argued that the panel was illegal, hence it could not proceed with selecting the commission’s chairperson.