Crisis at TSC as top bosses’ terms expire

Crucial services for the country’s 278,000 teachers in public schools could grind to a halt next week when five Teachers Service Commission bosses leave office upon the expiry of their contracts.

The commissioners’ last working day will be on Friday next week yet those to replace them are yet to be recruited.

Only one of the commissioners — Mr Cleophas Tirop — will remain in office legally. The commission has 3,000 staff at its secretariat.

For the commissioners to conduct business, they require a quorum of three out of a maximum nine, said TSC secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni Thursday.

The expected lack of quorum means that crucial tasks such as promoting teachers and other staff members will be suspended until a full team or at least three commissioners are appointed.

Also to be delayed would be the process of finalising disciplinary cases against staff since the commissioners are required to hear the cases and decide what action to take.

One of the commissioners, Mr Meshack Llanziva, said he expected a major outcry from teachers who will miss crucial services if new commissioners are not appointed on time. He said the team was particularly important in deciding on cases of teachers accused of involvement in fraud and sex cases.

“We are the ones who endorse the final decisions of the commission,” he said.

The commissioners are also in charge of appointing and appraising school heads or confirming those working in acting capacity. They also approve budgets and formulate policies among other duties.

Mr Lengoiboni was guarded on the impact of the impeding vacuum, saying most technical services at the commission would continue except promotions and disciplinary cases whose implementation would be delayed.

He said a quorum of commissioners was necessary to approve promotions for both teachers and commission staff.

“They have to approve the teachers to be dismissed after any disciplinary process,” Mr Lengoiboni said.

All other human resource roles, including registration of new teachers and payroll updates will continue.

“But we are proposing that this matter (of appointment of commissioners) be tackled as soon as possible to ensure we dispense our duties effectively,” he said.

Although the commissioners are also needed during the recruitment of new teachers, Mr Lengoiboni said the process was unlikely to be affected because it could happen long after the budget is approved. Commissioners would have been appointed then, he said.

The commissioners have the final word on interviewing of teachers and other staff to be promoted to various job groups, an exercise that would have to wait for the new ones were picked.

According to the TSC Act, the commission will only have nine commissioners, down from 24 under the previous law. Some of them left TSC and the vacancies were never filled.

Kenya National Union of Teachers chairman Wilson Sossion called on the President to pick fresh names from the list filed by the James Kamunge’s team.

“There is no reason teachers should suffer when a competent panel spent State resources to conduct interviews credibly,” Mr Sossion said. “Let us go back to the list and pick new names to end this stalemate.”

Cabinet Secretary
Thursday, Mr Lengoiboni said he had written to the Attorney General on the issue and was awaiting his advice. He was confident that the matter would be resolved after the recent appointment of Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi.

Initially, Parliament rejected names of four  nominees forwarded by former President Mwai Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to run the newly structured commission.

Those rejected were Mr Kiragu wa Magochi as chairperson, Mr Adan Sheikh Abdullahi, Mr Frederick Haga Ochieng and Mr James Kahindi Ziroh.

MPs took issue with the failure by the panel and the House Committee on Education, to uphold the law by ensuring that the name of Dr Lydia Nzomo, who emerged first during the interview for the commission’s chair, and two of those who were first and second for commissioners were forwarded to the President and Prime Minister for nomination.

Instead, Dr Kamunge’s panel forwarded the names of Mr Magochi for chairman although he had been placed at number two with 73.3 marks, while Mr Tirop, who topped the interviews for commissioners with 81.4 marks followed by Dr Salome Gichura with 78.7 per cent, were both left out.

The three picked to serve as commission members were ranked number four, five and seven.

Matter taken to court

Later, the President resubmitted the names of the chairman and two others who had been in the initial list. Only Mr Tirop was the new addition.

The matter was taken to court where the High Court nullified the contested appointments.

This followed a petition that challenged a re-submitted list of appointees earlier rejected in Parliament.

In his ruling, Mr Justice David Majanja said the submission of a list that contained the names of persons rejected by the National Assembly “did not constitute fresh nominations and was, therefore, a breach of Section 8(II) of the Teachers Service Commission Act and is to that extent set aside”.

The judge said it was the role of the panel to pick fresh names from candidates who were interviewed, taking into consideration gender, regional representation and merit.

The contested vacancies were for North Eastern, Nyanza and Rift Valley.

According to the petition, once the National Assembly rejected the first set of nominees it was open for the President, in consultation with the Prime Minister, to renominate candidates. This, according to the court’s findings, was not done.

The court effectively rejected Mr Kirago wa Magochi as chairman of the commission. The other commissioners whose appointments were nullified by the court were Mr Fredrick Ochieng and Mr Adan Abdullahi.