The long search for a substantive chief executive of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has hit another legal hurdle after a fresh petition was filed seeking to stop the recruitment.

Evans Morara Nyangongo has moved to the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kisii challenging the legality of the September 29, 2026 advertisement for the position of TSC Secretary and Chief Executive Officer. It is the third court case to threaten the process.

Nyangongo argues that the commission did not properly authorise the new advertisement and never formally cancelled an earlier one issued in May 2025. According to the Nation, he also contends that the advertisements were not duly signed by the commission chairperson and questions the chair's authority to publish them.

What the petitioner wants

Nyangongo is asking the court to certify his application as urgent and to issue conservatory orders suspending applications, shortlisting, interviews, selection and appointment of the next CEO until the case is heard and decided. No ruling on his request had been reported by Saturday.

TSC has been without a substantive CEO since Dr Nancy Macharia left office in June 2025. Eveleen Mitei has been serving in an acting capacity and is overseeing the commission's role in the ongoing national examinations.

A process dogged by litigation

The recruitment has been entangled in court cases from the start:

  • In January 2026, the court in Mombasa dismissed a petition by Thomas Mosomi Oyugi challenging the academic qualifications set for the job, allowing TSC to proceed.
  • On September 17, the High Court in Kiambu quashed the process started in May 2025. Justice Francis Nyungu Kyambia found that the advertisement gave applicants only 13 days to apply instead of the minimum 14 days required by the commission's own human resource manual, and that it failed to disclose the proposed pay.
  • The court ordered a fresh process in line with the Constitution, the law and TSC's internal procedures, leading to the September 29 re-advertisement now under challenge.

Why it matters

The TSC chief executive runs the country's largest public employer of teachers and oversees recruitment, deployment, promotions and discipline. The commission is also at the centre of several live disputes, including the fight between KNUT and KUPPET over junior school teachers and the deployment of teachers for the national examinations.

If the Kisii court grants the orders sought, the commission could be forced to pause the exercise once again, extending the acting arrangement at the top of TSC.

Photos: The Standard; Education News. Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.