School Principal Interdicted By TSC For Allowing Student To His House In Teachers’ Quarters
He is currently unemployed – he was dismissed by the Teaching Service (TSC) and his dismissal was upheld by the Labor and Employment Relations Tribunal on 27 October.
He also claimed Sh5.6 million in compensation, most of which was unpaid. The court sitting in Kisumu ruled that he should not be paid any interest because he failed to prove that he had the right to pay; that he will only be issued with a service certificate.
The resignation of Mr. Gregory Onyango Obonyo, who has been a teacher since 1990, reads like a tragicomedy supporting the resignation of Justice Christine Bari.
His last post was as Principal of Kanga Onditi Mixed Secondary School in Migori District.
He was one year into his position as a school principal when an incident occurred that cost him his job.
The story relates to the TSC Code of Conduct and Ethics for Teachers, published as subsidiary legislation in 2015. Section 22(2) of the Code states that teachers “shall not send students to private accommodation for any reason”. .
Elsewhere in the judgment, Onyango said that as a school principal, he “must lead by example in ensuring that employers comply with the code of conduct and ethics”.
Starting on the evening of January 28, 2019, Mr. Onyango, accompanied by a school student, approached two teachers, one boarding school and one senior teacher.
The girl said she was sick and slept in the hostel all day.
“(Mr Onyango) said the school did not have a pharmacy, nor did it have a female teacher or matron. He also said he sent the school superintendent, Mr Alex Ochieng, to buy painkillers for the student.
“Mr. Onyango instructed his nephew (who is a minor) who lives with him to feed the students after the students did not eat. Onyango wanted him to retire to sleep that day due to ill health,” he said.
The TSC told the court, from investigations conducted by interviewing various parties, that the girl spent a considerable amount of time at the principal’s house. Summing up the TSC’s arguments, the judge said: “After sleeping from dinner, she went to Mr Onyango’s house and served him the food she had cooked for him.”
He further added: “The TSC team revealed that the student stayed at Mr. Onyango’s house for two hours and returned to the dormitory with cooked food; Then, only after being questioned by fellow students did he admit to being at Mr. Onyango’s house and took the food.”
As a result of the findings, the TSC Disciplinary Committee on February 13, 2019 heard Mr. Onyango, his nephew and the school student. From the tests conducted, the TSC said that the director had an issue to be answered and further blocked.
“On June 25, 2019, Mr. Onyango appeared before the Disciplinary Committee and the charge was read to him as contained in the prohibition letter,” the court said.
Despite Mr Onyango’s guilty plea, the TSC said it had called four witnesses to court. The final decision was to fire him.
Dissatisfied, Mr. Onyango asked the TSC review committee to be heard on June 15, 2021. Before hearing before the committee, he said he was aware of the code of conduct, which sets limits for investigating sexual behavior between students and faculty. . The Supervisory Committee upheld his dismissal and Onyango was reinstated in November 2021.
“Mr Onyango said TSC’s decision is very bad because it guarantees the health, safety and security of students by providing medicine when sick girls need it.”
At one point in the proceedings, Mr Onyango allegedly had sex with a schoolboy, according to court records. However, the judge said the dismissal was related to the student’s permission to stay at the teacher’s house.
Justice Baari reviewed the process that led to the teacher’s dismissal and the avenues of appeal provided and ruled that there was no fault on TSC’s part in letting Mr Onyango go.
“In my view, the chronology of events above shows that the TSC has complied with the mandatory requirements of Section 41 of the Labor Code regarding dismissal/termination procedures. I think the dismissal of Mr. Onyango meets the test of procedural fairness,” he said.
