Teachers to wait longer for new boss as recruitment faces fresh hurdle

Former Basic Education PS Julius Jwan and former KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion are among those eyeing the TSC CEO job. [File, Standard]

Teachers will have to wait longer to get a new boss after recruitment of a new Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer suffered yet another setback after the High Court issued orders halting the process, barely days after it had been cleared to proceed.

In orders issued on February 3, the High Court in Kiambu stopped the ongoing recruitment exercise, restraining the TSC from implementing or continuing with the process pending the hearing of a fresh application filed by Simon Kariuki Kimata.

The decision has yet again pushed the process of filing the post that has remained without a substantive head for eight months after it fell vacant following the exit of Nancy Macharia in June last year.

Justice Dorah Chepkwony certified the application as urgent and issued conservatory orders barring the Commission from proceeding with the recruitment of the Secretary/Chief Executive Officer until the matter is heard and determined.

“That a conservatory order be and is hereby issued staying, suspending and restraining the 1st Respondent from implementing or continuing with the ongoing recruitment exercise of the Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the 1st Respondent pending the inter-partes hearing of the application,” the order reads.

Justice Chepkwony further directed that the respondents be formally served and respond within set timelines:

“The application shall be served upon the Respondents forthwith, and a response thereto be filed within seven (7) days of service,” the order reads.

The ruling deals a blow to the contest to appoint the 10th CEO in TSC’s history, an exercise that had resumed last week(Thursday) following the lifting of an earlier injunction that had frozen the process since May last year.

The court, in its ruling to allow the recruitment to proceed, ruled that the petitioner failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify halting the process.

The position is among the most powerful in the public service, overseeing more than 400,000 teachers, controlling a wage bill running into hundreds of billions of shillings, and shaping key decisions on teacher recruitment, deployment, discipline and professional development.

The court directed that the application be served on the respondents within seven days, with written submissions to be filed and exchanged ahead of a highlighting session scheduled for March 5, 2026.

The delay comes at a critical time for the education sector, with the incoming TSC boss expected to steer the commission through staffing challenges associated with the transition to senior school, including shortages of teachers for newly introduced Grade 10 learning areas.

Several high-profile names have been linked to the race, including former KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion, former Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwan, and a number of senior TSC insiders.

Among them are Director of Staffing Antonina Lentoijoni, Finance Director Cheptumo Ayabei, Director of Quality Assurance and Standards Dr Reuben Nthamburi, and Head of Operations Gabriel Mathenge.

Currently, Eveleen Mitei who was appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on June 3, 2025, is at the helm of the commission, even as concern now grows that her legal acting period could lapse before the appointment of a substantive CEO.

Mitei in December, marked six months in office, marking the end of the first acting stint; she is legally only allowed to act for another six months.

This means that she has only five months before her acting period is exhausted.

In May last year, the TSC advertised the positions of Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in a move that signified the end of incumbent CEO Nancy Macharia's tenure, which is set to run out on June 30, 2025.

In the notice, TSC urged Kenyans with a background in education and management to submit applications by May 27.

But the Mombasa-based petitioner quickly sprang to quell the recruitment process, arguing that proceeding with a job advertisement without a formal vacancy declaration meant the TSC was recruiting for a non-existent position.

The petition also challenged Section 16(2), which outlines the specifications for any candidate applying for the position of CEO.

While the TSC's advertisement called on candidates to possess a degree and 10 years of experience in education, the petitioner argued that these requirements were thoroughly restrictive and excluded qualified professionals from other sectors.

The petitioners argued that the commission's demand for experience in public administration, human resources and financial management, yet limiting the degree qualifications to only education, did not make sense.