Knut wants Teachers Service Commission secretary Nancy Macharia punished for disobeying a court order that suspended the implementation of career progression guidelines.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers, in an urgent application, says the TSC and its secretary have issued a fresh circular declaring vacancies in line with the guidelines despite a court decision by Justice Byrum Ongaya that suspended the same in July 2019.
In August 2019, another advertisement in the dailies invited applications from suitably qualified candidates through career progression guidelines to fill the positions of headteacher and deputy headteacher 2 in utter disobedience of the court order.
Though advocate Hillary Sigei, Knut says Ongaya’s orders of 2019 are still in force and have not been reviewed or set aside.
“Despite being aware of a pending application for contempt, TSC has continued to place advertisements and issued circulars for implementation, including inviting applications from suitably qualified candidates through the career progression guidelines to fill vacancies created."
It wants TSC and its CEO/secretary committed to jail for six months. Also sought is an order restraining any implementation of the guidelines.
In his decision delivered in 2019, Justice Ongaya of the Labour and Employment Relations Court directed the teachers' employer to effect promotions based on its code of regulations.
“TSC will undertake promotions in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Code of Regulations for Teachers and the schemes of service with respect to all unionisable teachers,” he said.
The unions had opposed a performance-based progression module adopted by TSC that Knut said would disenfranchise some 50,000 teachers due for promotions having pursued further studies.
The commission, on the other hand, had maintained that promotions could only be effected based on the new guidelines that review the performance of a teacher as opposed to seniority, academic and professional qualification as suggested by Knut.
