Kenyan teachers warn of strike over pay rise

NAIROBI: The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has warned the Government to brace for a nationwide strike next month over the teachers’ pay rise.

 

Knut vowed to press the Government to enforce a 50 to 60 per cent pay rise offered to teachers by the Industrial Court in June and upheld by the Court of Appeal last month

Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion said teachers will boycott classes next month if the pay rise would not be reflected in the accounts at the end of this month. He asked Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to obey the court order and pay teachers their money.

Mr Sossion told union members attending a primary headmasters’ conference in Mombasa Monday to forget about the medical scheme initiated by TSC, which the union denounced on Sunday, claiming the cover was designed to divert their attention from the main goal of the pay rise. “We did not contract AoN. It was done by TSC and we cannot do their job,” said Sossion.

He said no Knut member will enroll for the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) scheme even as they pull out of AoN. “They have been collecting cash and we know it’s a cash cow for the General Election,” said Sossion.

Sossion said he sits on the NHIF board and knows its shortcomings. “We are walking out of AoN not because the service provider is bad but because TSC has quit,” he said. He accused some Government agencies of conniving to break Knut.

“Some people have been paid to recruit members from Knut to our rivals,” he said, adding that the battle of medical cover shall wait as teachers fight to retain their salary award.