Dr. Samwel Marigat Named New TSC Director of Staffing.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has a new Director of Staffing. Dr. Samwel Marigat, until recently the Nairobi Regional Director, has taken charge of the directorate responsible for teacher recruitment, promotions, deployment and transfers nationwide.
He replaces Antonina Lentoijoni, who left the position after being sworn in as a TSC Commissioner on September 10, 2026.
The change lands at a busy moment for TSC. The Staffing Directorate is currently finalising one of the largest promotion exercises the commission has run in years — 34,016 vacancies spanning 30 job grades — with interviews recently concluded and deployment letters expected in the coming months.
Who Is Dr. Samwel Marigat?
Marigat’s move to headquarters caps a steady rise through TSC’s field administration. His documented career path runs through several counties and regions:
| Period | Position |
|---|---|
| Earlier career | County Director, Mombasa |
| Later | County Director, Kisumu |
| Around a year in post | Regional Director, Rift Valley (based in Nakuru) |
| From roughly early 2026 | Regional Director, Nairobi |
| From September 2026 | Director of Staffing, TSC Headquarters |
Some reporting describes his current appointment as acting Director of Staffing, while other TSC coverage refers to him simply as the new Director of Staffing. TSC has not issued a public statement clarifying the exact status, and this article will update once that is confirmed.
While serving as Kisumu County Director in 2024, Marigat oversaw the promotion of hundreds of tutors in the county and was a visible spokesperson on staffing matters in the region. He has also been named a TSC liaison officer with the Ministry of Education on co-curricular activities, a role that reflects his standing in inter-agency coordination.
He has been publicly associated with warnings to job seekers about employment fraud and cartels operating around TSC recruitment exercises — a recurring concern given how competitive teacher hiring and promotion rounds have become. Readers should treat any specific quotes attributed to him with some caution unless carried by a named, dated news source, since not every attributed line has been independently verified.
TSC has not yet announced who will take over as Nairobi Regional Director on a substantive basis; Regina Opondo, previously County Director in Meru, has moved into that seat.
Why the Change Happened: Lentoijoni’s Move to Commissioner
Marigat’s appointment is a direct consequence of a separate, higher-profile transition at TSC.
Antonina Lentoijoni had served as Acting Director of Staffing from July 2022 and was confirmed in the substantive role in August 2024. In that position she managed some of TSC’s most closely watched functions: recruitment, deployment, transfers, promotions, workforce planning and the Teacher Management Information System.
In July 2026, President William Ruto nominated Lentoijoni and former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion for two vacant TSC Commissioner seats. The nomination process was briefly interrupted in late July when the High Court in Kerugoya issued conservatory orders following a constitutional petition; those orders were later lifted, allowing the process to continue.
The National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Education, chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, vetted both nominees on August 20, 2026, and approved their appointments. President Ruto formally appointed them through a special Kenya Gazette notice dated August 31, 2026, for six-year terms.
Chief Justice Martha Koome swore in Lentoijoni and Sossion as TSC Commissioners at the Supreme Court on September 10, 2026, formally ending Lentoijoni’s tenure as Director of Staffing and creating the vacancy Marigat now fills.
During her time as Director of Staffing, Lentoijoni is credited with overseeing the deployment of more than 1,200 P1 (primary-trained) teachers to Junior Secondary Schools as part of the Competency-Based Education transition, among other major staffing functions.
What the Staffing Directorate Actually Does
The Staffing Directorate sits at the centre of how Kenya’s roughly 350,000-strong teaching workforce is managed. Its core responsibilities include:
- Recruitment of new teachers and Curriculum Support Officers, including large-scale hiring drives tied to enrolment growth and curriculum reform
- Promotions and career progression, guided by TSC’s Career Progression Guidelines
- Deployment and transfers, matching teachers to schools with vacancies while managing shortages in hardship and understaffed areas
- Workforce planning, including maintaining the Teacher Management Information System (TMIS)
- A role in disciplinary processes connected to staffing decisions, working alongside TSC’s dedicated Discipline Division
The 34,016 Teacher Promotions: What’s Actually Happening
This is the most immediate and consequential item on Marigat’s desk. Here is what has been officially confirmed so far.
The numbers: TSC advertised 34,016 promotion vacancies on July 28, 2026, for the 2026/2027 financial year, under an advert signed by then-Acting CEO Evaleen Mitei. The posts span 30 job categories, from Grade C2 (T-Scale 7) Senior Teacher II up to Grade D5 (T-Scale 15) Chief Principal.
Read Also: TSC Promotion 2026: Acting Administrators in ASAL Get Priority
Where the bulk of the vacancies sit:
| Grade / Cadre | Vacancies |
|---|---|
| Senior Teacher II (C2) | 13,490 |
| Senior Master IV | 5,956 |
| Senior Teacher I (C3) | 4,210 |
| Deputy Headteacher II | 3,075 |
| Deputy Headteacher I | 1,865 |
| Senior Master III | 1,665 |
| Deputy Principal III | 1,068 |
| Deputy Principal II | 891 |
| Principal | 770 |
| Senior Principal | 148 |
| Chief Principal | 54 (regular), plus 7 TTC positions |
TSC noted that the heaviest concentration of stagnated teachers sits at Grade C3 for secondary school teachers and Grade C1 for primary teachers — educators who have met promotion qualifications but remained in grade for years. The exercise is backed by a Sh2 billion allocation in the 2026/27 Budget Estimates, which TSC Chairman Jamleck Muturi said was aimed squarely at easing this career stagnation.
Timeline so far:
- July 8–28, 2026 — vacancies advertised
- August 10, 2026 — online application deadline (manual applications were not accepted)
- Over 70,000 teachers were shortlisted to compete for the 34,016 slots
- September 2026 — promotional interviews conducted at regional and county level, prioritising high-volume grades like Senior Teacher II and Senior Teacher I
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How candidates are scored: TSC introduced a new scoring framework for this round. It weighs length of service in the current grade, performance under the Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) system, academic qualifications, and additional responsibilities taken on. Notably, for senior grades such as Chief Principal and Senior Principal, length of stay and age carry the overwhelming majority of the available marks — a clear signal that TSC is prioritising sustained service at the level below, rather than paper qualifications, for its most senior school leadership posts.
What happens next: With interviews concluded, the Staffing Directorate — now under Marigat — is responsible for final verification of results and issuing deployment letters. Successful candidates are expected to receive their transition letters and be posted to matching institutional vacancies ahead of the next academic term, though TSC has not published an exact date for this phase.
A Related Change: New Head at the Discipline Division
Alongside the staffing reshuffle, TSC has also recalled Daniel Kioko, previously Bomet County Director, back to headquarters. Reporting on this move differs slightly on his exact title — some accounts describe him as returning to lead the Discipline Division, while more detailed sourcing describes the role specifically as Deputy Director in that division. Kioko previously served in the Discipline Division before moving to field postings in Wajir and later Bomet, so this represents a return to a department he already knows. Solomon Buyela, previously Acting County Director in Siaya, has moved to Bomet to fill the resulting vacancy.
What This Means for Teachers
For teachers awaiting promotion results, the leadership change at the Staffing Directorate is unlikely to alter the substance of the exercise — the vacancies, scoring criteria and Career Progression Guidelines were set before Marigat took office. What matters practically is continuity: deployment letters and placements need to be processed without new delays as the directorate transitions to new leadership.
For teachers and administrators more broadly, Marigat’s extensive field experience across Mombasa, Kisumu, Rift Valley and Nairobi gives him direct exposure to the staffing pressures counties face — from hardship-area shortages to the logistics of matching promoted officers to actual school vacancies.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the current TSC Director of Staffing?
Dr. Samwel Marigat, appointed in mid-September 2026, replacing Antonina Lentoijoni.
Why did Antonina Lentoijoni leave the Staffing Directorate?
She was appointed a TSC Commissioner by President William Ruto and sworn in on September 10, 2026, for a six-year term, which required her to vacate the Director of Staffing position.
How many teachers are being promoted in the current TSC exercise?
34,016 positions across 30 job grades, from Senior Teacher II to Chief Principal.
When will successful applicants be deployed?
TSC has indicated deployment letters and placements will be processed ahead of upcoming academic timelines, though no exact date has been publicly confirmed as of this writing.
Where can teachers check their promotion status?
Through the official TSC portal at teachersonline.go.ke, and through official communication from county and regional TSC offices.
Dr. Samwel Marigat Named New TSC Director of Staffing.
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