Fill vacant positions at Teachers Service Commission, teachers ask Uhuru

TSC Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Lengoiboni. (Photo:File/Standard)

By Augustine Oduor

Nairobi, Kenya: Teachers have asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to fill the vacuum in the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha) and Kenya Primary School Heads Association demanded immediate filling of the position of TSC chair and five commissioners.

Already, TSC Secretary and Chief Executive Officer Gabriel Lengoiboni, has written to Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi to advise the Office of the President to honour a court ruling that demanded fresh names be selected from the shortlisted candidates and forwarded to the President for appointment.

Monday, it also emerged that State House Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua wants a new team to replace the James Kamunge panel that interviewed the commissioners.

Kessha national chairman John Awiti said teachers are getting impatient with the delay in filling the senior positions.

“Failure to fill up these slots means that teachers cannot get adequate, satisfactory and fast services as they should. Issues of discipline and promotion interviews are dragging,” he said. He added only TSC has been without the required commissioners longer that any other constitutional commission.

“It is unfortunate that teachers must always make noise to be heard. This is not good discipline on the side of the Government especially for persons expected to impart good morals on children,” said Awiti.

Mobilise parents

Kenya National Parents and Teachers Association (KNPTA) national chairman Nathan Barasa said he would mobilise parents to protest the delayed constitution of the teachers’ employer. “Everything is now quiet as if all is well. There is a something lacking at TSC. We need all a full commission,” said Barasa.

Former Director of Higher Education Salome Gichura is the current acting chair. Former Nairobi School Principal Cleopas Tirop and Saadia Abdi Kontoma are the other two commissioners at TSC.

The teachers’ employer needs six more commissioners to meet the constitutional requirement of nine. Kenya National Union of Teachers national chairman Wilson Sossion asked the President to make the necessary decisions to fully constitute the TSC.