- Hillary Muhalya explains the distinct roles of TSC commissioners, the CEO and the Secretariat.
- Commissioners provide policy direction and oversight while the Secretariat handles implementation and daily administration.
- Their decisions ultimately influence recruitment, deployment, promotion, discipline and teachers’ professional development nationwide.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) sits at the heart of Kenya’s education system, carrying the constitutional responsibility of managing the country’s teaching service.
Its decisions affect teacher recruitment, registration, employment, deployment, promotion, transfer, discipline, professional development and, ultimately, the quality of learning in schools.
Yet the structure through which these responsibilities are exercised is often misunderstood.
The TSC has two closely connected but distinct arms: the Commission, which provides governance, policy direction and strategic oversight, and the Secretariat, which implements Commission decisions and manages the institution’s day-to-day operations.
Understanding this distinction is essential to appreciating the role of TSC commissioners, their interaction with teachers and the operational space occupied by the Commission Secretary/CEO and the Secretariat.
The Commission’s structure
The TSC is governed by a nine-member Commission comprising a Chairperson and eight other members.
The current leadership includes Dr Jamleck Muturi John as Chairperson and Sharon J. Kisire as Vice Chairperson, alongside Commissioners Timon Oyucho, Annceta Wafukho, Christine Kahindi, Salesa Abudo, Dr Nicodemus Ojuma Anyang, Wilson Sossion and Antonina Lentoijoni.
Kisire became Vice Chairperson effective May 21, 2026, following the completion of Leila Ali Abdi’s tenure.
The latest additions are Sossion and Lentoijoni, who were appointed as members of the Commission for six-year terms through a Gazette Notice dated August 31, 2026.
Sossion, a former Secretary-General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, brings extensive experience in teacher representation, labour relations, collective bargaining and education policy.
Lentoijoni, who previously served as TSC Director of Staffing, brings institutional knowledge of teacher recruitment, deployment and staffing management.
The wider Commission combines experience in education administration, teaching, human-resource management, policy, law, labour relations and public-sector leadership. The submitted article similarly identifies the Commission as comprising a Chairperson and eight members.
The core role of commissioners
The central responsibility of a TSC commissioner is governance and strategic leadership rather than routine administration.
Commissioners collectively formulate policies, determine strategic priorities and exercise oversight over the teaching service.
Through the Commission’s decisions, they influence the broad framework governing teacher recruitment, deployment, promotion, discipline, professional development and career progression.
They are also responsible for ensuring that the Commission operates within the Constitution, the Teachers Service Commission Act and other applicable laws.
Commissioners exercise these responsibilities collectively rather than as individual administrators.
They may work through specialised committees and authorised structures dealing with areas such as finance, human resources, recruitment, promotion, discipline, disputes, audit and strategy.
This allows the Commission to maintain oversight of a large national teaching service without becoming involved in every routine administrative transaction.
The Commission and the Secretariat
The most important institutional distinction within TSC is the boundary between the Commission and the Secretariat.
The Commission provides policy, strategy, governance, leadership and oversight.
The Secretariat provides implementation, administration, supervision, coordination and service delivery.
At the centre of this relationship is the Commission Secretary/CEO, who is responsible to the Commission while also heading the Secretariat.
Under the TSC Act, the Secretary is the head of the Secretariat, accounting officer and custodian of Commission records, and is responsible for executing Commission decisions.
The CEO therefore serves as the institutional bridge between governance and administration.
The office translates Commission decisions into programmes, coordinates the Secretariat, supervises implementation and ensures continuity in the daily management of the Commission.
The practical chain can be summarised as:
Commission — policy, strategy, governance, approval and oversight.
CEO and Secretariat — implementation, administration, supervision, coordination and service delivery.
This operational margin is important.
Commissioners should not ordinarily become a parallel administrative chain of command over directors, county officials or other Secretariat officers. Routine operational instructions should follow the established administrative structure.
At the same time, the Secretariat does not operate independently of the Commission.
The CEO and Secretariat remain accountable to the Commission for implementing approved policies and delivering the Commission’s mandate.
How commissioners interact with teachers
For most teachers, interaction with TSC takes place through the Secretariat and its field structures rather than through direct contact with individual commissioners.
A teacher seeking recruitment, transfer, promotion, registration, deployment or other administrative services normally uses established TSC systems and channels.
But although teachers may not regularly meet commissioners, they experience the Commission’s decisions throughout their careers.
Policies on recruitment determine who enters the teaching service. Deployment decisions determine where teachers work. Promotion policies influence career progression.
Professional-development policies affect training and advancement, while disciplinary policies establish standards of conduct and procedures for dealing with professional misconduct.
The Commission therefore influences virtually every major stage of a teacher’s professional life.
The relationship also extends through teachers’ unions and other professional stakeholders.
Issues concerning remuneration, working conditions, workload, promotions, professional development and welfare can reach the Commission through collective representation and established consultation mechanisms.
This gives teacher organisations an important role in communicating the concerns of the profession.
The appointment of Wilson Sossion adds a particularly notable dimension because of his previous experience as a teachers’ union leader.
However, as a Commissioner, his responsibility is now exercised within the collective statutory mandate of TSC rather than as a representative of a union.
During his parliamentary vetting, Sossion said his previous union experience would strengthen the Commission and improve engagement with teachers rather than compromise his independence.
Discipline and dispute resolution
Teachers may also interact with Commission structures through disciplinary and dispute-resolution processes.
This is an area where the distinction between policy and administration becomes especially important.
Secretariat officers process cases and provide administrative support, while authorised Commission structures exercise the relevant statutory responsibilities.
The objective is to ensure that disciplinary action is governed by established rules, evidence and due process rather than arbitrary decisions.
TSC’s relationship with teachers extends beyond employment administration.
Professional development, appraisal, continuous training and career progression are important components of teacher management.
Commissioners provide the policy and governance framework, while the Secretariat administers the programmes and systems through which teachers participate.
Promotion is another area in which teachers directly experience TSC policy.
The Commission establishes the broad framework, while the Secretariat manages advertisements, applications, verification and other administrative stages.
Benefits of serving as a commissioner
A TSC commissioner occupies a significant public office and serves under an approved remuneration and benefits framework.
Depending on the applicable terms and regulations, commissioners may receive official remuneration, sitting allowances for qualifying meetings, authorised travel and subsistence benefits, medical arrangements and other facilities required for official duties.
Where provided for under the applicable framework, retirement-related benefits may also apply.
These benefits come with substantial responsibilities.
Commissioners exercise public authority over decisions affecting a large national workforce and therefore operate under legal, parliamentary, institutional and public scrutiny.
The position is accompanied by considerable challenges.
Teacher shortages and unequal distribution remain major management issues. Some regions, subjects and schools require additional teachers, creating difficult deployment decisions.
Financial constraints add another layer of complexity.
TSC must balance demands for recruitment, remuneration, professional development and teacher welfare against approved public resources.
Industrial relations are equally important.
The Commission must continuously engage teachers and their unions over remuneration, working conditions, workload, promotions and welfare.
Legal challenges also form part of the environment.
Decisions concerning recruitment, deployment, promotion and discipline may be challenged through administrative mechanisms or the courts.
Commissioners must therefore ensure that decisions are lawful, transparent and procedurally sound.
Education reforms create further demands.
Changes in curriculum, school structures, teacher preparation and career pathways require corresponding adjustments in teacher management.
Human impact of Commission decisions
Although commissioners operate at the governance level, their decisions have very direct consequences for individual teachers.
A deployment policy can determine where a teacher works. A promotion framework can affect a career. A disciplinary decision can affect a teacher’s livelihood. A professional-development policy can open or restrict opportunities for advancement.
The consequences extend beyond teachers.
Staffing decisions determine whether classrooms have adequate teachers, meaning that the work of the Commission ultimately affects learners and the wider education system.
This makes responsible governance particularly important.
The relationship between commissioners and the Secretariat requires a careful balance.
If commissioners become excessively involved in routine administration, the professional administrative chain can be weakened.
If the Secretariat operates without meaningful strategic oversight, accountability and policy coherence can suffer.
The stronger institutional model is therefore one in which commissioners provide clear direction and rigorous oversight while the CEO and professional Secretariat retain the operational space necessary to implement approved decisions.
The CEO becomes the critical link, ensuring that the policy decisions of the Commission are translated into practical programmes and services.
A Commission at an important moment
The expanded Commission assumes responsibility at a significant period for TSC, with teacher shortages, deployment, professional development, industrial relations, education reforms and institutional leadership all demanding sustained attention.
The addition of Sossion brings extensive experience from the teachers’ representative and labour-relations environment, while Lentoijoni contributes direct institutional experience in TSC staffing and administration.
Their arrival broadens the range of experience available within the Commission as it exercises oversight over the teaching service.
But the effectiveness of the Commission will ultimately depend not merely on the professional backgrounds of individual commissioners.
It will depend on how effectively the Commission and Secretariat work together within their respective mandates.
The fundamental principle is straightforward: commissioners govern, provide strategic direction and exercise oversight; the CEO and Secretariat implement and administer; teachers receive services, participate through established channels and experience the practical consequences of TSC policy.
A properly functioning TSC therefore requires both strong governance and professional administration.
The Commission must provide direction and accountability, the Secretariat must deliver efficiently, and teachers must have reliable channels through which they can obtain services, raise concerns and participate in legitimate consultations.
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That balance is central to the effective management of Kenya’s teaching service — and, ultimately, to the quality and continuity of education delivered to learners across the country.
By Hillary Muhalya
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