Employment And Labour Relations Court Uphold TSC’s Decision to Deregister Sossion
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General has seen his deregistration from the Teachers Service Commission upheld.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court has upheld TSC’s decision to deregister the ODM nominated Member of Parliament as a teacher due to gross misconduct.
The ruling gave him the opportunity to defend his seat in the upcoming June elections as per the Labour and Relations Act.
However, KNUT’s constitution does not allow individuals who are not teachers to vie for seats. The stipulations and Labour and Relations Act override the laws of the union. The Act’s stipulations allow a secretary-general of a trade union to be any person including those who are involved or employed in the sector involved.
“The judgment is a non-issue to me because the Labour Act allows me to vie for the secretary-general post. The only thing I can lose is my personal benefits as a teacher,” said Mr. Wilson Sossion, the KNUT Secretary General, after the ruling.
TSC de-registered the KNUT secretary-general in a gazette notice dated the 1st of November, 2019, while quoting section 30 of the TSC Act in the process.
The Commission accused Sossion of breaching the third schedule of the TSC Act and the TSC code by causing insensibility of the competency-based curriculum-based curriculum (CBC) training in 11 counties.
Besides, TSC accused Wilson Sossion of breaching the Public Officer’s Act and the Code of Regulation for Teachers when he accepted his nomination to the national assembly.
Sossion was aggrieved by his de-registration and took the Commission to court and accused them of making an unreasonable and unjust decision that was intended the education sector.
He sought the court to declare TSC’s decision null and void and to issue orders to stop TSC from going ahead with implementing their decision.
Lawyer Paul Mwite represented Mr. Sossion who maintained that his main reason for his de-registration was to defeat the legal proceedings that were pending in court.
In TSC’s defense, TSC lawyer Fred Ngatia said Mr. Sossion had been notified of his de-registration as a teacher on the 29th of July, 2019 but he did not respond within 90 days.
While reading the judgment in Nairobi on Tuesday, Justice Stephen Radido dismissed Mr. Sossion’s case saying that it lacked merit.
He said that Mr. Sossion did not suggest in his pleadings and submissions whether the section was invalid or against the law.
The Employment and Labor Relations Court declined Sossion’s attempt to protect his position as a teacher within the corridors of justice after the 2019 attempt failed.
It remains to be seen whether the ruling will put to an end Sossion’s career and his long and much-discussed disputed between him and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Comments are closed.