By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

Agony for children in public primary and secondary schools continues with no solution in sight to the unending teachers’ strike.

The strike, which entered its second week on Monday, has seen the Government threaten and intimidate teachers while using the courts to try and break their will without much success.

Parents, who have equally been agonising about their children having been sent back home a day after schools reopened, are now demanding that the Government resolves the crisis to end the suffering of their children.

The move comes even after another attempt to end the strike flopped Tuesday after Finance Minister Njeru Githae and Permanent Secretary Joseph Kinyua failed to appear before Parliament’s Education Committee. The two were to be grilled by MPs on the standoff.

It also became more unlikely that learning in public universities would resume any time soon after the University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and the Universities Non-Teaching Staff Union (Untensu) differed with the administration during talks.

Officials from both unions said they would not resume talks unless Githae puts a proposal on the table. They also said they would not meet the universities’ administration unless they proposed an acceptable counter offer to their demands.

Tuesday it became clear that the Government is not keen to end the teachers’ strike after the chairman of Parliament’s Education Committee David Koech called the Ministry of Finance a “serious obstacle” to resolving the stalemate.

He said the Treasury holds the key to ending the work stoppages, and expressed the disappointment of Parliament even after President Kibaki said the Government is committed to dialogue.

“This ministry is becoming an obstacle to the problems we are facing today, especially when it comes to issues of education,” added Koech.

He said the House Committee convened the meeting on request of Githae and was disappointed the minister did not honour his word by turning up.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers Tuesday termed the meeting a waste of time and vowed to go on with the strike. This was the latest high-level meeting the Government held days after a similar one at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) attended by Knut and senior officials from the Ministry of Education and State Law Office. “The strike is on until our demands are sufficiently addressed. We have wasted another day without a solution. But let them consult and get back to us,” said Knut national chairman Wilson Sossion.

He said their demands are clear and they would wait for the Government to put its act together for as long as they want to.

Meanwhile the effects of the strike continued to bite with national schools, Alliance and Lenana, closing Tuesday.

Kuppet national chairman Omboko Milemba said union members would protest at Githae’s office and home today over his “insensitivity” to teachers’ concerns.

special schools allowance

At the centre of Knut’s demand has been implementation of Legal Notice Number 534 of 1997 that stated various allowances that should be awarded to the teachers.

Sossion said Knut has refused to recognise the Legal Notice Number 16 of 2003 that amended most of the allowances as were provided in 1997, leaving only hardship and special schools allowance.

He said among items amended were automatic house allowance, medical, responsibility, commuter, accommodation and transfer allowances, which he said must be awarded to the teachers.

TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni said the Government has met its obligations in light of all legal notices and subsequent agreements that followed.   Knut, however, argued that the notice of 2003 did not follow the right procedure and dismissed it as unacceptable.

“There are no minutes of the Teachers Service Remuneration Committee that should have advised the minister to vary the allowances. We did not participate in any meeting that recommended the allowances be amended and so we will not recognise the legal notice,” said Sossion.

Education Minister Mutula Kilonzo Tuesday admitted that he has not seen the minutes that culminated in the legal notice and asked the House Committee to advise if it indeed followed the right procedure.

The House Committee also failed to address the matter and referred it to Parliament’s Committee on Delegated Legislation chaired by Nominated MP Amina Abdalla, who did not give a timeline on when the investigations would end.

“Unless we get clarity on that legal notice we will not move forward because we will not accept an illegitimate document to deny teachers what they rightfully negotiated for in 1997,” said Sossion.

Even though the House Committee on Education said it resolved the issue by referring it to another parliamentary committee, Knut says that for as long as the mystery around the authenticity of the legal notice of 2003 remains unresolved, proper talks to end the strike are far from starting. Knut also dismissed attempts by the Government to strike a deal by making available funds to harmonise their basic salaries with that of civil servants.

In its communication to the Treasury and Ministry of Education, TSC claimed it requires Sh13 billion a year to harmonise teachers’ pay.

salary increases

The Government Tuesday seemed to be pushing for harmonisation of the salaries as a way to convince teachers to return to school.

But Knut maintained that harmonisation was not an item they registered as a dispute, because it is their right to be awarded salary increases alongside civil servants.

“That is our right. We do not consider it an attempt to end the strike because teachers deserve it. The real issue is full implementation of Legal Notice Number 534,” said Sossion.

Meanwhile, primary school headteachers asked Knut to embrace dialogue and negotiate with the Government to end strike.

Kenya Primary School Heads Association chairman Joseph Karuga noted only dialogue will end the current stalemate.

Karuga spoke in Mombasa Tuesday during head teachers annual conference.

“There is no way we can fight the Government and win. The only option is to give room for negotiations and come up with a conclusive solution,” said Karuga.

He dismissed allegations that all was not well between trade unions and school heads.

“We shouldn’t appear like we are enemies. We are trying to see ways through which the problem can be solved,” he said.