Economy

Teachers give State 5 days to pay Sh1.4bn or face strike

sossion

Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion addresses journalists after a meeting with the TSC officials August 26, 2015. He ruled out more discussions with the employer. PHOTO | GERALD ANDERSON |

Teachers have threatened to disrupt the opening of schools next week if the government fails to deposit some Sh1.4 billion in their accounts by Monday midnight in line with the Supreme Court ruling two days ago.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Wednesday remained defiant and insisted that there was nothing to discuss after a meeting with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

“We are giving TSC five days and if by midnight of August 31 the money is not in the teachers’ accounts, we will down our tools,” said Knut secretary-general Wilson Sossion. “Our intention at the meeting was to ensure that the court order is complied with.”

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) snubbed the meeting. The Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling demanding the TSC pay teachers a 50-60 per cent pay rise until its appeal challenging the increment is determined.

The teachers’ employer has paid the 280,000 public tutors their August salaries and has up to end of the month to top-up the balance of Sh1.4 billion.

The government must also raise Sh17 billion between now and June 2016 in what has plunged it into a major financial crisis with tax hikes, borrowings and budget cuts being cited as options.

READ: Treasury given one week to pay teachers additional Sh1.4bn

Schools re-open next week Monday and strike could see pupils and students lose out on learning time, which could harm their performance at national year-end examinations. Private schools have not been affected, because teachers in those schools are not unionised.

The TSC, on the other hand, urged teachers not to go on strike when schools reopen as negotiations over their salaries go on.

Mr Sossion asked the National Assembly to push the Treasury to release the money by midnight, August 31 to avert the strike.

Wednesday, the Budget and Appropriations Committee shelved a planned crisis meeting to discuss the teachers’ pay dispute as they await the Treasury’s proposals to plug the deficit brought home by the hefty pay.

“I have contacted the Treasury secretary Henry Rotich who said the government is weighing the available options after the court ruling. We are cancelling the meeting of my committee until they come up with a final word,” Mutava Musyimi said at Parliament Buildings.

“There is no money. There are serious fundamental questions that we must ask ourselves. The country is heavily indebted and we must weigh our options,” he added.

The Treasury is biased towards budget cuts to accommodate the new higher salaries. Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge told Parliament Tuesday that budget cuts look feasible because the government is hesitant to borrow or raise taxes.

READ: Treasury considers budget cuts to pay teachers

Budget cuts

This signals the deepening of austerity measures introduced early last year including a freeze on wages, hiring of vehicles as opposed to buying, cut in travel budgets and government advertisements.

The 280,000 tutors currently account for 38 per cent of Kenya’s Sh418 billion public wage bill. A teacher in P1 job group G, the lowest paid category, will take home Sh26, 707 up from Sh16, 692. The best paid, a chief principal in job group R, will earn Sh163,634, from Sh109,089.

The TSC had earlier estimated that implementing the increment over a four-year period would cost the Treasury an extra Sh73 billion.