A petition challenging the recruitment of the next chief executive officer of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC)will proceed to a full hearing after the Employment and Labour Relations Court rejected a bid by a key applicant to join the case.
The court dismissed an application by Dr Adano Salad Kadubo, who had sought to be enjoined as an interested party in a petition filed by Thomas Mosomi Oyugi against TSC and several State agencies.
The judge held that the issues Dr Kadubo wished to raise were largely identical to those already presented by the petitioner. He added that the documents Dr Kadubo filed did not disclose any new information.
“The petition can be justly decided without his involvement as a party to the proceedings. I come to the inevitable conclusion that the intended interested party’s application is hereby dismissed,” the judge said.
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In court papers, Dr Kadubo said he had a long-standing interest in succeeding former CEO Nancy Macharia. He noted that when the position was advertised, Ms Macharia was still in office and her term was not due to lapse until June 6.
“There was no vacancy in the office at the time. I expected that once the position became vacant, the Commission would advertise it in newspapers with nationwide circulation,” he stated. He added that the vacancy ought to have been declared in the Kenya Gazette before the recruitment process commenced.
He argued that TSC acted unfairly by publishing the advertisement only in the My Government newspaper on May 6, 2025, and on its website.
“My Government newspaper is not common and has no nationwide circulation. That is why I was not aware of the advertisement,” he said.
Dr Kadubo added that advertising a position that was not yet vacant was unconstitutional and amounted to recruiting for a non-existent office, which breached the principle of the rule of law.
He maintained that, with an acting chief executive officer already in place, no party would suffer prejudice if the process was halted pending the resolution of the constitutional issues.
TSC opposed his application through an affidavit sworn by its chairperson, Dr Jamleck Muturi John, who argued that Dr Kadubo had not met the legal threshold to join the case. He added that apart from Dr Kadubo’s personal ambition to become CEO, his application introduced nothing new.
Dr Muturi said that while the main petition was a matter of public interest, the application by Dr Kadubo sought to advance an individual agenda. The court agreed, finding that Dr Kadubo’s failed to meet the strict legal threshold for joinder in a constitutional petition.