Wilson Sossion Profile: Education, Age, Career, KNUT Leadership, Family, and Political Journey

Wilson Sossion Profile: Education, Age, Career, KNUT Leadership, Family, and Political Journey.

Wilson Sossion is a Kenyan educationist, trade unionist, and public servant best known for his nearly eight years as Secretary-General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), one of Kenya’s largest teachers’ union.

Over a career spanning more than two decades, Sossion has moved between union leadership, Parliament, the executive branch, and now a constitutional commission — most recently being nominated by President William Ruto in July 2026 to serve as a member of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the very institution he spent years clashing with as a union boss.

This profile covers his biography, education, teaching career, rise in KNUT, political journey, controversies, family life, and his current status awaiting parliamentary vetting for the TSC role.

Wilson Sossion Profile

Detail	Information
Full Name	Wilson Sossion
Date/Year of Birth	1969
Place of Birth	Pokot County (present-day West Pokot)
Clan	Tulin clan
Nationality	Kenyan
Education	Egerton University (Education)
Profession	Teacher, Trade Unionist, Politician, Public Servant
Known For	Former KNUT Secretary-General; nominee, TSC Commissioner
Former Positions	KNUT Secretary-General (2013–2021); Nominated MP (2017–2022); Chief Administrative Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage (2023)
Current Status (as of July 2026)	Nominated as a member of the Teachers Service Commission, pending parliamentary vetting
Political Affiliation	Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) (2017 nomination); later United Democratic Alliance (UDA)

Wilson Sossion Bio

Sossion was born in 1969 to Domoita from Pokot County, from the Tulin clan. His family moved from Tarta to Bomet in the early 1970s, and it is in Bomet County that he was largely raised and built his early career. This makes him, at 57 as of 2026, a figure whose roots straddle two very different parts of Kenya’s Rift Valley — the pastoralist north and the agricultural, tea-growing south.

Wilson Sossion Education

Sossion studied education at Egerton University before beginning his career as a secondary school teacher in the Rift Valley region. He financed part of his studies through a government student loan; records show he pursued a diploma in education at Egerton in the 1990s while benefiting from a Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) facility, a loan he later cleared decades after graduating in 1993 through a lump-sum payment.

Teaching Career

Sossion began his working life as a secondary school teacher in the Rift Valley, notably at Tenwek Boys High School in Bomet County, where his union activism first took root among fellow teachers. His day-to-day experience with issues affecting classroom teachers — pay, transfers, and working conditions — became the foundation for his subsequent rise in union politics.

Rise in KNUT

Sossion’s union career began at the grassroots. In 2000 he used a donated bicycle to campaign for union office and later received a motorbike from teachers to help him traverse Bomet, but narrowly lost that election. Teachers encouraged him to try again in 2001, and he won with a landslide; two months later he was elected to the union’s national executive council, where he gained early exposure to union policy and decision-making.

In 2007, following the retirement of Joseph Chirchir, Sossion contested and won the post of KNUT second vice national chairman. He later ran for first vice chairman and was elected unopposed, before rising to national chairman. In December 2013, KNUT members elected him Secretary-General, the union’s top office, succeeding a leadership he had steadily climbed toward for over a decade.

Wilson Sossion as KNUT Secretary-General (2013–2021)

Salary negotiations and CBAs

As Secretary-General, Sossion became the public face of KNUT during a period of intense engagement with the government over teachers’ Collective Bargaining Agreements, salary structures, and welfare terms — cementing his reputation as an outspoken defender of teachers’ economic interests.

Teachers’ strikes and court battles

Sossion led KNUT through multiple standoffs with the government, including strike threats over unpaid salaries. In November 2020 he led KNUT leadership in issuing a strike notice warning that teachers would not report to work in January until they were fully paid by the TSC. His tenure coincided with major disruption to the school calendar caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, during which his public arguments centred on prioritising the health and safety of teachers and learners over rigid exam timelines.

Relationship with TSC and the Ministry of Education

Sossion’s relationship with the TSC was frequently adversarial. He was a vocal critic of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), and TSC accused him of disrupting CBC forums held in various counties. This friction culminated in one of the most consequential controversies of his career (see Controversies, below).

Political Career

In 2017, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) nominated Sossion as a Member of Parliament, representing workers’ interests in the National Assembly, allowing him to hold both the KNUT Secretary-General position and a parliamentary seat simultaneously for several years.

In June 2021, Sossion resigned as KNUT Secretary-General to focus on his legislative duties, having served in the union’s top office for close to eight years. Collins Oyuu, who had been KNUT chairman, was elected unopposed to succeed him.

Sossion’s political alignment later shifted: he left ODM and joined the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), the party of Deputy President (later President) William Ruto. On 14 April 2022, he lost the UDA party primaries for the Bomet Senatorial seat, ending his bid for elective office that cycle.

Executive appointments (2023–2025)

Following the 2022 general election, Sossion moved into the executive arm of government. In March 2023, he was nominated as Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and National Heritage, serving alongside fellow CAS nominee Rehema Dida. He held the post through a turbulent period for the CAS office: in January 2024, the High Court ruled that the appointment of 49 CAS office-holders, including his cohort, was unconstitutional because adequate public participation had not been conducted for the additional posts created. Sossion publicly defended the value of the CAS role, arguing that such positions helped ministries deliver services by providing oversight beyond Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries.

In January 2025, he was among 109 candidates shortlisted by the Public Service Commission for Principal Secretary roles, alongside other high-profile former officials, though he was not ultimately appointed to a PS position.

Relationship with TSC: The Deregistration Saga

The most defining controversy of Sossion’s career is his long-running legal and institutional battle with the TSC.

In July 2020, the TSC deregistered Sossion as a teacher, accusing him of disrupting Competency-Based Curriculum forums in various counties and of improperly accepting nomination by ODM as an MP in 2017 while still a registered teacher.

Sossion rejected the move, insisting his rights as a union official under the Labour Relations Act were unaffected, and drew public backing from the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) and its Secretary-General, Francis Atwoli. The TSC formally removed him from its register of teachers after a Labour Court ruling upheld the commission’s authority to do so.

The matter resurfaced dramatically in early 2026. As Sossion signalled a bid to reclaim the KNUT Secretary-General seat ahead of that year’s union elections, the Court of Appeal ruled that his 2018 termination and deregistration as a teacher had been carried out unlawfully, a decision he celebrated as clearing his path to contest.

However, legal analysts cautioned that the ruling was narrower than it appeared: the Court of Appeal found that the TSC had valid and lawful grounds to terminate Sossion’s employment but that the process used suffered procedural flaws — a distinction between “unlawful process” and full reinstatement, and no court order had explicitly directed his re-registration as a teacher.

Then-KNUT leadership disputed his eligibility to contest on this basis, with Deputy Secretary-General Hesbon Otieno arguing that Sossion had not appealed his deregistration within the required 18-month window and had not paid union dues for several years.

In the end, Sossion did not contest. Sossion did not present himself for nomination during KNUT’s April 2026 elections, leaving the Secretary-General race uncontested, and Collins Oyuu was re-elected unopposed for a second term to lead the union through 2031.

From TSC Critic to TSC Commissioner (2026)

Only weeks after his KNUT comeback bid fizzled, Sossion re-entered the TSC’s orbit — this time as a candidate to help run it. President Ruto had declared vacancies at the commission and appointed a selection panel in April 2026 to recruit replacements for two outgoing commissioners, following the expiry of their non-renewable six-year terms.

On 25 May 2026, a shortlist of 33 candidates for the two TSC member positions was released, with Sossion among them, and he was scheduled to appear before the interview panel on 4 June 2026.

On 21 July 2026, the Executive Office of the President announced that President Ruto had nominated Sossion, alongside Antonina Lentoijoni, as members of the Teachers Service Commission, as part of a wider round of appointments, promotions and redeployments.

The nominations were transmitted to Parliament for consideration and approval in accordance with the Constitution and the relevant statutes, and, if confirmed, Sossion and Lentoijoni will join the nine-member commission that is constitutionally mandated to register, recruit, deploy, and discipline the country’s teaching workforce.

The two nominees are expected to replace outgoing commissioners Mbage Njuguna Ng’ang’a, a University of Nairobi law graduate who had represented the Central region since his 2020 appointment, and Leila Abdi Ali, an accountant who represented the North Eastern region and whose vice-chairpersonship ended in May 2026.

Commentators have noted the irony of the appointment: a man who spent years as one of the TSC’s fiercest critics — leading strikes against it, opposing its curriculum reforms, and fighting his own deregistration by the commission — is now positioned to help govern it from the inside. Education-sector voices, including KNUT’s Bomet branch leadership, have welcomed the nomination, expressing hope that Sossion’s advocacy experience will translate into reforms benefiting teachers’ welfare, professionalism, and working conditions.

As of 26 July 2026, the nominations remain pending. They are subject to vetting by the relevant National Assembly committee before a full parliamentary vote; no confirmation of approval or formal swearing-in has yet been reported.

Leadership Style

Sossion is widely regarded as a combative, high-visibility union leader — known for direct engagement with media, willingness to threaten and organise industrial action, and a confrontational negotiating posture with both the TSC and the Ministry of Education.

Supporters describe him as a fierce defender of teachers’ rights; critics have characterised some of his tactics, particularly his opposition to CBC, as disruptive to education reform.

Achievements

• Rose from grassroots branch union activism to lead Kenya’s largest teachers’ union for nearly eight years.
• Represented teachers’ welfare interests in Parliament as a nominated MP (2017–2022).
• Played a central role in KNUT’s engagement with the government over teachers’ pay and working conditions during his tenure.
• Secured a Court of Appeal ruling in 2026 highlighting procedural flaws in his 2018 termination by the TSC.
• Nominated in 2026 to serve as a Teachers Service Commission member, pending parliamentary approval — a rare trajectory from union critic to commission insider.

Controversies

• 2020 deregistration: Removed from the teachers’ register by TSC amid disputes over his opposition to CBC and his MP nomination.
• 2021 resignation from KNUT: Stepped down as Secretary-General to focus on parliamentary duties, ending an eight-year tenure.
• 2022 UDA primary loss: Failed in his bid for the UDA ticket for Bomet Senator.
• 2024 CAS unconstitutionality ruling: His Chief Administrative Secretary post was among those the High Court found unconstitutional for lack of public participation.
• 2026 KNUT comeback dispute: A bitter, high-profile standoff with sitting Secretary-General Collins Oyuu over his eligibility to contest the union’s top seat, which ended with Sossion not presenting himself for nomination.

Wilson Sossion Family

Sossion lost his first wife in a car accident in 2010. He is a father of three children, all from his first marriage, and has since remarried. His eldest daughter, Rosemary Chepkorir, graduated from the University of Nairobi with a degree in law.

Net Worth

Sossion’s exact net worth has not been independently verified through reliable public disclosures. Various unverified reports over the years have speculated about business interests, including in transport, but no audited or officially confirmed figures are publicly available. Readers should treat specific net-worth figures circulating online with caution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Wilson Sossion? Wilson Sossion is a Kenyan educationist, trade unionist, and politician, best known as the former Secretary-General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and a former nominated Member of Parliament. As of July 2026, he has been nominated by President William Ruto to serve as a member of the Teachers Service Commission.

Is Wilson Sossion still a teacher? He was deregistered as a teacher by the TSC in 2020. A 2026 Court of Appeal ruling found procedural flaws in that termination, but legal commentators note this did not amount to an explicit court order restoring him to the teachers’ register.

Why did Wilson Sossion leave KNUT? He resigned as KNUT Secretary-General in June 2021 to concentrate on his duties as a nominated Member of Parliament, after leading the union for close to eight years.

Was Wilson Sossion an MP? Yes. He served as a nominated MP representing workers’ interests from 2017, on an ODM ticket, until the end of that Parliament in 2022.

Which political party does Wilson Sossion belong to? He was nominated to Parliament under ODM in 2017 but later left the party to join the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), under whose ticket he unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Bomet Senate primary.

What is Wilson Sossion doing now? As of late July 2026, Sossion is awaiting parliamentary vetting following his nomination by President Ruto as a member of the Teachers Service Commission. He previously served as Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and National Heritage (2023) and made an unsuccessful bid to reclaim the KNUT Secretary-General seat earlier in 2026.

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Wilson Sossion Profile: Education, Age, Career, KNUT Leadership, Family, and Political Journey.