- Wilson Sossion has become the most celebrated TSC Commissioner appointee since the Commission’s establishment in 1967.
- Sossion has previously served as a nominated Member of Parliament and Chief Administrative Secretary before rising to his current TSC role under President William Ruto.
- Sogomo has cautioned that teachers should temper their expectations of Sossion’s TSC tenure, noting that Commission decisions are made collectively rather than by individual commissioners.
That Wilson Sossion is the most celebrated appointee as a Commissioner of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) since its establishment in 1967 is not in doubt. About 150 Commissioners have served the Commission in this period without attracting this level of excitement. So, who is Hon. Sossion, and why the jubilation?
I first noticed Sossion’s abilities when he represented then-KNUT Chairman Mr. Joseph Chirchir in a fundraising I had organised for teachers taking school-based studies in various universities from my home area in 2007. Later, in 2009, we met over a cup of tea at the Capital Centre in Nairobi, where I predicted he would become a senior leader in future and encouraged him to soldier on. He was then the Second National Vice Chairman of KNUT. Fast forward, he rose through the ranks to become Chairman of KNUT, and in a short while, elbowed out Secretary General Mr Maitha to be elected S.G. himself.
This was against the long-held tradition of KNUT leadership, in which younger leaders rose and remained on any of the three established pathways of Chairman, Secretary General and Treasurer, without crossing over to other pathways.
As S.G., he performed his duties with gusto, insistence, persistence and passion, even when occasionally heading for a collision with the government. Meanwhile, as an ardent critic of the government on matters of education and a strong supporter of then Orange Democratic Movement Party Leader Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, he earned himself a nomination to the National Assembly in 2017.
ALSO READ:
Good teachers, bad systems: Why some schools destroy the talent they hire
When KNUT strongly opposed the in-servicing of teachers upon the introduction of the Competency-Based Curriculum, leading to some of these programmes being disrupted in certain schools by KNUT officials, the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta decided to fight KNUT through a willing TSC leadership. Hon. Sossion had to go, and indeed he did, a massive sacrifice for a rising star.
To me, Sossion has risen from one level to another through adopting the wise sayings of two distinguished scholars. The first is Mr. E.M. Forster, who stated that “Failure or success seem to have been allocated to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling. And in the whole universe, the only really interesting movement is this wriggle.” As Chairman of KNUT, he wriggled his way to become the chief executive and spokesperson of KNUT as the S.G. And now he has also wriggled his way from the KNUT S.G. who presented a memorandum to the Building Bridges Initiative a few years ago proposing the dismemberment of the TSC (implying that commissioners would have been laid off) and its functions transferred to the teacher management department to be created at the Ministry of Education, to being a strong commissioner who will, in the fullness of time, be the strongest defender of TSC and its operations.
He has already set records for being the only Chairman, only S.G. of a teachers’ union and the only former member of the National Assembly to be a Commissioner of the TSC. He joins other prominent Kenyans such as Hon. Isaac Ruto, Hon. Felix Kosgei and Hon. Tiyah Galgalo in serving as Commissioners of Constitutional Commissions after serving elsewhere in senior positions.
Secondly, Sossion may have adopted a saying by Sir Isaac Newton, who asserted that “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Yes, he stood on the shoulders of Joseph Chirchir to rise through the ranks of KNUT; he stood on the shoulders of Raila Odinga to become a nominated Member of the National Assembly, and has now stood on the shoulders of President William Ruto to become a Chief Administrative Secretary (now defunct) and a Commissioner of the TSC. Who knows, he may soon be looking for another giant to stand on whose shoulders he can see further, and that is not a bad habit.
And now, the way forward for Commissioner Sossion. The expectations of teachers on his ascendancy are exceedingly high. I can only compare it with President Mwai Kibaki’s observation through his inauguration speech in December 2002 at Uhuru Park, that “the expectations of Kenyans on his presidency are intimidating to him.” But decisions in all Constitutional Commissions are made through consensus, and in case of a disagreement, they have to vote.
That is why their commissioners are either five, seven or nine, to avoid a tie during voting. Were Commissioner Sossion to originate a policy proposal that gets adopted by the Commission and the government through Cabinet and Parliament, he would not be expected to take individual credit for it, as the policy change would have been processed through many stages in government. He will be expected to make policies, oversee the Secretariat and preside over discipline cases, a collective procedure rather than an individual duty.
Plans to drain flooded Baringo lakes begin as 11 schools remain submerged
If the Treasury, for example, sets the budget of the Ministry of Education at KSh 800 billion in the 2026/2027 financial year, and this amount has to be shared among all levels of the education sector, the TSC as a whole and Commissioner Sossion as an individual cannot do much to change that scenario, while teachers will be expecting him to push for more promotional, employment and training opportunities. The most he could do is lobby through the departmental committee of the National Assembly for additional funds, a major initiative considering his web of networks in the political arena. I am, in fact and indeed, protecting Commissioner Sossion from the unrealistic expectations that come with the ascendancy of individuals to high office. Let teachers temper their expectations with reality. I predict he will do exceedingly well in the next six years, since he has the predisposition to make rational judgements.
By Benjamin Sogomo
Education specialist/ Former secretary/CEO, TSC
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
