Kuppet says President Uhuru Kenyatta’s 20 per cent pay cut is illegal

Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori addressing the press.

By RAWLINGS OTIENO

Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has termed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s move to have a 20 per cent pay cut as illegal.

Instead the union warned that the government should be ready for bruising street battles if it tries to review the pay for teachers.

Kuppet insists that they will not renegade on their stand over the 200 per cent pay increase promised by government in an agreement signed last year.

 Kuppet Secretary General Akello Misori said that reducing the salary of the President, Deputy President, Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries by 20 per cent and 10 per cent respectively would only save the country a paltry Sh 100 million annually which is a drop in the ocean.

Instead Kuppet wants President and his Deputy William Ruto to decisively deal with corruption arguing that any government effort to tackle the evil would save Kenyans massive resources and increase the government’s capacity to provide services.

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According to National Treasury and the Auditor General, Kenya loses Sh 300billion annually to corruption, an amount Kuppet says is almost the figure consumed by public wage bill annually.

“By any stretch of imagination, the saving we would make from the pay cuts is a drop in the ocean compared to what a robust anti-corruption effort would earn us. If the President is feeling philanthropic enough, let him put the pay cuts to the teacher’s kitty,” said Misori.

In a press briefing in Nairobi yesterday, the union claimed that they had received intelligence reports that the Uhuru’s announcement was made to set the stage for a campaign to reduce the pay of all public servants.

Flanked by Kuppet Chair Omboko Milemba, Misori claimed that the pay cuts is a side show meant to divert attention from the government’s inability to manage the economy to the satisfaction of Kenya.

The union said that it’s only Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) that has the mandate to set and regularly review the remuneration and benefits of all state officers and also to advise the National and County Governments on the remuneration and benefits of all other public officers.

Kuppet said that instead of playing politics with the salary issue, the President should try harder to find long term solutions to the country’s economic underperformance.

The union supposed that this was not the time to reduce salaries since the cost of living is at all-time high with the consumer prices rising each day.