Court allows TSC to deregister Knut boss Wilson Sossion
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has been allowed to deregister Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Wilson Sossion following his entry into politics.
Employment and Labour Court Judge Nelson Abuodha on Friday held that Mr Sossion’s election as a union official was underpinned by the fact that he was and remained a teacher. He was therefore subject to regulations governing the teaching service.
Further, that section 16 of the Teachers Code of Conduct and Ethics (2015) requires a teacher to maintain political neutrality at all times and shall not act in a manner that may compromise or be perceived to compromise his or her neutrality.
PARLIAMENT
TSC had argued that Mr Sossion’s acceptance of nomination to Parliament by a partisan political party was inconsistent with his position as a public officer and a teacher under control and supervision by the commission.
“It is not for the court to scrutinise and over analyse the reason for which employment contract has been terminated by the employer provided the reasons on the face of it are reasonable,” Justice Abuodha said.
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Mr Sossion had sought to justify his acceptance of the nomination to Parliament by ODM saying he was nominated as a special category to represent workers.
The judge said that whereas this may be so, as far as TSC was concerned, the release of Mr Sossion from active teaching was to enable him to focus on Knut activities which exclusively concerned teachers’ affairs.
“It is doubtful if such release could be extended to include nomination to Parliament by a partisan political party. To this extent, the court is satisfied that there existed valid reasons for the termination of Mr Sossion’s contract as a teacher,” Justice Abuodha said.
