TSC fully constituted as new officials are sworn in
Newly sworn in TSC commissioners from left Salesa Adano Abudo, Christine Kahindi, Sharon Jelagat Kisire, Dr Nicodemus Ojuma Anyang (3rd right) and Annceta Wafukho (2nd right) at the Supreme Court building on September 6, 2021. The ceremony was presided over by Chief Justice Martha Koome (centre). With them is Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi (right).
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is now fully constituted following the swearing in of five new commissioners yesterday to fill in vacancies that had remained vacant since March.
The five are Dr Nicodemus Ojuma Anyang, Christine K Kahindi, Sharon Jelagat Kisire, Annceta G Wafukho and Salesa Adano Abudo. They were sworn in at a ceremony officiated by Chief Justice Martha Koome at the Supreme Court.
The CJ challenged the new appointees to uphold the law and ensure equity in education so that poor or vulnerable children are not disadvantaged.
“Use the opportunity availed by your appointment to do all you can to ensure that our education system does not leave any groups behind,” she said.
The five will assume office after their appointment by President Uhuru Kenyatta last week after vetting and approval of nomination by the National Assembly.
They were interviewed by a panel that President Kenyatta had appointed. The commissioners will serve for a non-renewable term of six years.
Two commissioners
The commission now has the nine commissioners as provided for in the Constitution. For a brief period early this year, it had only two commissioners after the terms of five others expired in March while the former chairperson, Lydia Nzomo, retired last year. The two commissioners were Mbage Njuguna Ng’ang’a and Leila A Ali, who were appointed last year.
In April, the President appointed Jamleck Muturi John, who is the chairman of the commission, and Timon Oyucho as member. TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia attended the ceremony alongside the other commissioners. She has been the CEO since 2015 and started her second and last five-year term last year.
The CEO is also the secretary of the commission and head of its secretariat, the accounting officer and custodian of its records. The approval process was fast-tracked at the request of Mr Kenyatta owing to the role of TSC in the implementation of the competency-based curriculum and the reorganised school calendar.
Education sector
“Conscious of the central role of the commission in the education sector and noting the unprecedented nature of the early learning and basic education calendar for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022, the President has requested the National Assembly to consider the nominees on a priority basis,” Justin Muturi, the speaker said when he presented the nominees for vetting and approval.
The new commissioners take office just after the teacher’s employer signed a non-monetary collective bargaining agreement with teachers’ union that has been criticised as giving them a raw deal.
Teachers will also be eager to see if there will be a change in relations with their employer after a strained relationship with the outgoing board over teacher management policies. Members of the Kenya National Union of Teachers have particularly suffered after being left out of pay raises and promotions since June 2019.
Over 150,000 of them quit the union in order to access the benefits that were extended to non-members. There is currently disquiet in the teaching fraternity after TSC started deducting agency fees from teachers’ salaries last month and forwarding the same to the unions. There are more than 335,000 teachers employed by the TSC.
