Gabriel Mathenge has now been appointed as Head of Operations at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), a powerful position given the amount of clout it carries at the organization.
Mathenge, a trained teacher by profession was initially attached to the Discipline division, and was later promoted to the position of Deputy Director, Quality Assurance and Standard (QAS) thus deputizing Dr. Reuben Nthamburi.
He made his name in the teacher management circles when he was charged with the responsibility of leading the training of teachers under the then newly-introduced Teacher Performance and Appraisal Development (TPAD) programme which was rolled out in 2018.
Being a unique programme, he became very visible in training teachers across the country; and it is believed that the successful manner in which he handled the whole programme endeared him to the top management at the TSC, where the Commission Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Nancy Macharia quickly noticed his abilities and picked him as a Personal Assistant.
His star continued to rise and was later named to the coveted post of Director of Operations. Though it does not feature anywhere yet on the TSC’s current organizational structure, this rather new influential post, is seen within the Commission’s caucuses as an euphemism for ‘Director of Directors’. In other words, the occupant wields huge powers and has the gravitas to supervise other directors who oversee other departments.
The vacancy was advertised severally in the local dailies last year and cancelled in equal measure under unclear reasons. This happened amidst speculations that there was some bit of push and pull between some forces within higher echelons at the Commission who didn’t quite agree with the creation of the post.
Currently, the TSC doesn’t have a Deputy CEO following the unceremonious dismissal of Dr. Kennedy Juma Mulunda, who was the first substantive Deputy CEO since the drawing of the current organizational chart. Even this position was also advertised and attracted interest from several directors running different directorates at the commission and other prominent professionals from public and private sectors. But nothing came out of this initiative as TSC abandoned the search mid-stream under a hail of confusion.
There are those in the Commission who feel that the Director of Operations largely carries most of the powers earlier contemplated for the Deputy CEO as well as arrogating some key responsibilities vested on other directors manning other crucial departments.
These claims are given credence by the fact that the holder of this glamorous office has been placed at a higher Job Group compared to his counterparts labeled with the same title of ‘director’.
In July last year, the teachers’ employer advertised for the position of Director of Operations, also known as Chief of Staff at TSC Grade 3. According to the notice published in various media outlets, the successful candidate was to report directly to the TSC CEO and would be in charge of the overall management of Teacher Management, Finance and Administration and Human Resource Management and Development functions.
The notice further stated that the office occupant would be expected to serve on a five year contract and subject to renewal based on proven performance.
By Our Reporter
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