Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Wilson Sossion has said he will remain the union’s top dog after the Labour court gave a nod for his deregistration as a teacher.
Mr Sossion on Saturday said he will remain a registered with the Teacher Service Commission on because the dispute between him and teachers’ employer concerns his employment contract and not his registration as a teacher.
EMPLOYMENT
“I am in the list as a registered teacher. TSC merely terminated my employment with them as they do to anyone seeking elective public positions,” Mr Sossion said in a statement.
He added, “Many teachers in elective union positions have terminated their employment with TSC by resigning or retiring but continue to retain union offices.”
On Friday, TSC was allowed to deregister Mr Sossion following his entry into politics.
Employment and Labour Court Judge Nelson Abuodha said 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.
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.