MPs clear teachers’ Sh24 billion deal

By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

Teachers are on the threshold of getting additional Sh24 billion annually but only if the government complies with the decision of a parliamentary committee to start paying the contested allowances next month.

If all goes as per the wishes of the Committee on Delegated Legislation chaired by nominated MP Amina Abdalla, the over 278,000 teachers will have house, commuter and medical allowances in their accounts when January pay is wired by Teachers Service Commission.

But first Parliament will have to endorse the report of the committee, and given that the House went on Christmas recess Thursday, this can only be possible when the Tenth Parliament resumes its final leg of sitting on January 2.

This is because the House must adopt or reject reports of House committees, and in an election year where MPs strive to please all cadres of voters, it may be predictable that few MPs will oppose this decision.

Kenya National Union of Teachers, (Knut) chairman Wilson Sossion said these allowances must be paid with immediate effect and without being subjected to negotiation.

He warned that the allowances were not part of the ongoing salary talks with the Teachers Service Commission and noted that the perks will not be negotiated. “We shall negotiate other allowances. Not these three. And we want them factored in January pay slips,” he declared.

“We will be kind enough not to ask for arrears (from 1997). But we want the government to honour the agreement we signed in regard to the legal notice,” he added.

The Standard learnt the committee also recommended that Legal Notice No. 16 of 2003, which the State has used resist paying the allowances agreed on 10 years ago.

It has been the State’s argument that this particular notice overturned Legal Notice No.534 of 1997 under which the allowances in question were negotiated and agreed upon by teachers union and the State.

This means that once Education minister Mutula Kilonzo de-gazettes it, all teachers are set to benefit from the full allowances package as was negotiated in 1997. That would, if implemented, translate to an additional Sh2 billion on TSC’s monthly wage bill.

If implemented, the lowest paid teacher in Job Group F would take home an additional Sh11, 616 a month in allowances. The lowest paid teacher under job group F in the harmonised pay today takes home Sh16, 692.

The highest paid teacher, Job Group R, would take home Sh87, 269 in allowances alone. Teachers in this group at the lowest bracket earn Sh109, 089.

Under the 1997 agreement, they were supposed to earn half of their basic pay as house allowance. They were also to pocket 20 per cent of their basic pay as medical allowance and another 10 per cent of their salary towards commuter allowance.

Computing these, teachers in Job Group G will take home Sh13, 353, those in Job Group H will earn Sh15, 457 while those in Job Group J will take home Sh19, 729.

Those in Job Group K will get Sh24, 816, Job Group L (28, 728), Job Group M (Sh 33, 272) and Job Group N (Sh 38, 552).

Teachers in Job Group P would also take home Sh62, 020 in paid allowances.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between Knut and the Government said under clause 2 (2) that “the union and the employer shall respect the ruling” of the House Committee on Delegated Legislation.”

TSC secretary, Mr Gabriel Lengoiboni and commission chairperson Ms Lucy Njiru, signed the document. Finance PS Joseph Kinyua and Education PS Prof George Godia also signed the document, seen by The Standard. This is expected to be grounds for criticising government, which committed itself to the outcome of the committee’s arbitration, if it rebuffs Amina’s team’s verdict.

Government’s official reaction was not received for this story because calls and phone messages sent to Mutula and Lengoiboni were not answered while Godia replied he was airborne.

Prolonged strike

The Government and Knut have been sharply divided over the authenticity of the controversial Legal Notice. It is also the reason the recent teachers strike extended for three weeks, as the giant teachers’ union demanded the document be rendered illegal. But the Government stood its ground that the legal notice was binding.

Consequently, Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim ordered the Committee on Delegated Legislation to establish the validity of the Legal Notice after Gichugu MP Martha Karua presented the petition on behalf of the teachers.

Amina’s team on Wednesday generated a report that recommended the legal notice be revoked. This was after minister Mutula failed to produce minutes of the Teachers Service Remuneration Committee, which may have recommended gazettement of the Legal Notice.

The minister had failed to appear before the committee twice.

Only these minutes, dully signed, could have authorised the gazettement of the contentious Legal Notice that has had an impact on teachers’ perks.

Knut had claimed the legal notice was gazetted clandestinely because they did not participate in the process and that they did not sign any document to authorise alteration to their allowances.

The union’s acting secretary general Xavier Nyamu wrote to House Speaker Kenneth Marende asking him to intervene in the matter. “This is an issue that has been of major concern to the union’s steering committee. But it is now a major win for teachers. We now want immediate implementation without fail,” he said.