- TSC has been urged to move quickly to fill vacant substantive positions for heads, deputies and HODs to prevent political and community interests from capturing school leadership during electioneering.
- Prolonged acting arrangements have been flagged as a risk factor, creating uncertainty that leaves leadership vacancies vulnerable to political lobbying and patronage.
- TSC should treat merit, qualifications, experience and integrity as the primary basis for appointments, rejecting political connections or community pressure as factors in who leads Kenyan schools.
As electioneering intensifies, substantive appointments of heads, deputies and HODs are urgently needed to protect schools from political and community capture
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) must move with speed to make substantive appointments of heads of institutions, principals, deputy heads, deputy principals and heads of departments, particularly as Kenya enters an increasingly competitive electioneering environment in which political interests can easily find their way into the management of schools. This is no longer simply an administrative question. It is a question of professional integrity, institutional stability, teacher morale and the protection of schools from political patronage. Schools require leaders whose authority is derived from professional appointment, demonstrated competence and the mandate of the employer, not from the endorsement of politicians, community power brokers, influential individuals or competing local factions. The longer leadership vacancies remain unresolved, the greater the risk that external interests will attempt to influence who eventually occupies those positions.
Election periods have a way of intensifying competition for influence. Politicians build networks, cultivate alliances and identify individuals and institutions capable of shaping opinion within communities, and schools occupy a unique position in this equation. A headteacher or principal is not merely an administrator; they interact with teachers, parents, learners, Boards of Management, religious organisations, alumni and the wider community, and that visibility can make school leadership positions attractive to political actors. Some politicians may be tempted to support particular individuals for headship or other administrative positions because they believe those individuals will be sympathetic to their political interests or agenda. This is precisely where TSC must become particularly vigilant. A school administrator should never become a political asset; a headteacher should not owe their appointment to a politician, a principal should not feel indebted to a political patron, a deputy should not be expected to advance an external political agenda, and an HOD should not rise through the ranks because of political connections or community sponsorship. The moment professional appointments become instruments of political influence, the integrity of the entire institution is placed at risk.
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Acting appointments have a legitimate place in administration. When a vacancy suddenly occurs, someone must take responsibility, and an acting arrangement provides continuity while the employer completes the recruitment or promotion process. The problem arises when an arrangement designed to be temporary becomes indefinite. A teacher can remain acting head for months or even years while the substantive position remains unresolved, and such uncertainty affects not only the individual but the entire institution, with staff uncertain about the permanence of decisions, long-term plans approached cautiously, and competing interests beginning to position themselves around the eventual appointment. During an electioneering period, that vacuum can become even more vulnerable to political lobbying. The solution is straightforward: TSC should not allow acting arrangements to become breeding grounds for patronage. Where vacancies exist, the Commission should move swiftly to advertise, shortlist, interview, select, appoint and deploy successful candidates.
There is a fundamental difference between temporarily occupying an office and holding it substantively. A substantive head or principal has a clear mandate to develop long-term institutional strategies, enforce professional standards, manage staff, address discipline, monitor learner performance, coordinate resources and make difficult decisions with greater certainty, and can be held directly accountable for results. The same applies to deputies and HODs. Leadership must come with both authority and accountability, and it is difficult to build strong institutional leadership when key positions remain uncertain or when individuals constantly wonder whether decisions made today will survive tomorrow’s appointment. Kenya’s schools need stability.
Much of the public conversation around school leadership focuses on headteachers and principals, but heads of departments are equally important. HODs are the professional link between the classroom and senior administration, coordinating teaching programmes, monitoring curriculum implementation, supporting teachers, examining learner performance and helping translate institutional policy into daily practice. A strong school needs strong departmental leadership, and TSC should ensure that HOD appointments and other leadership responsibilities form part of a credible professional career pathway, so that teachers can see that excellence, experience, professional development and demonstrated leadership can take them forward, rather than having to search for a politician or influential community figure to champion their careers.
There is an important distinction that must be maintained between community participation and community ownership of appointments. Communities have a legitimate interest in the quality of their schools; parents have every right to demand good results, proper discipline, adequate facilities and responsible administration, and Boards of Management have governance responsibilities. Local leaders can lobby for infrastructure, additional teachers, laboratories, classrooms, technology and other resources. But none of this should translate into the power to determine who TSC appoints as a professional administrator. Community participation should strengthen schools, not capture them. The same principle applies to political leaders, who can advocate for better education, champion government investment, mobilise resources and raise legitimate concerns about institutional performance, but should not have the power to decide which teacher becomes headteacher or principal.
Political patronage can destroy professional confidence. Imagine a teacher who has spent years improving their qualifications, taking leadership responsibilities, mentoring colleagues and delivering strong results, who then applies for an administrative position and discovers that another candidate with stronger political connections is being favoured. The message becomes devastating: performance does not matter as much as connections. That is precisely the culture TSC should eliminate. The education profession must reward competence and integrity; teachers should compete knowing the strongest candidate has a genuine opportunity, administrators should lead knowing their authority is professional rather than political, and learners should attend institutions where leadership decisions are made in their best interests.
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Kenya must reject the emerging temptation to associate particular politicians with particular schools and particular administrators. A politician should not be able to claim a headteacher as “their person.” A community faction should not be able to regard a principal as its representative inside the school. A school should not become an extension of local political competition. Once this happens, teachers can become divided, Boards of Management can become politicised, and parents can begin viewing institutional decisions through political lenses, resulting in an education system distracted from its central purpose. Schools should educate children, not manufacture political alliances.
This is why substantive appointments cannot be postponed indefinitely. The Commission should identify all vacant leadership positions and establish a clear timetable for filling them. Where recruitment has already taken place, outcomes should be communicated; where interviews have been completed, successful candidates should be appointed; and where acting arrangements have persisted for too long, the positions should be reviewed and substantively filled through due process. The answer is not to bypass procedures but to complete them efficiently and transparently. Speed and fairness are not contradictory; TSC can move quickly while maintaining competitive recruitment, objective assessment, proper documentation and professional standards.
The country needs an education leadership culture where a teacher’s strongest recommendation is their professional record. Qualifications, experience, performance, leadership ability, integrity and institutional needs should matter. Political connections, community pressure and personal patronage should not. The professional pathway should be clear: perform, develop, compete and progress. That is the only sustainable way to build confidence in the teaching profession.
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Substantive appointments are therefore more than promotions. They are instruments of institutional stability, reducing uncertainty, strengthening accountability, giving administrators authority, motivating teachers, protecting professional career progression, and, critically, reducing the space in which political and community interests can attempt to manipulate school leadership. TSC should treat the filling of vacant leadership positions as an institutional priority and send a clear message as electioneering gains momentum: schools are not campaign headquarters, headships are not political rewards, principalships are not patronage positions, deputy positions are not bargaining chips, and HOD appointments are not community trophies. They are professional responsibilities.
Kenya’s education system deserves administrators appointed because they are capable of leading, not because they are useful to a politician, acceptable to a particular community faction or connected to an influential individual. The time has come for TSC to close every avenue through which political patronage can enter school leadership: fill the vacancies, end unnecessary acting arrangements, complete recruitment processes, make substantive appointments, deploy successful candidates, and protect the professional independence of school leadership. Because the ultimate beneficiary is not the politician, the community power broker or even the administrator. It is the learner. And when the interests of the learner are placed above political calculations, professional loyalty and community factionalism, Kenya’s schools become what they were always meant to be: places of learning, opportunity and national transformation, not battlegrounds for political influence.
By Hillary Muhalya
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