Kenya: Retired teachers have accused the State Law Office of blocking the release of Sh3.34 billion owed to them despite a court order.
They said they were disappointed after the Attorney General’s office snubbed their meeting last Tuesday.
“The genesis of our visit was a result of directive by the Parliamentary Committee on Education, which was attended by senior officers from various government departments responsible of executing court judgements,” the retired teachers said.
The more than 52,000 retired teachers won a suit they had filed where the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was ordered to release the money in unpaid pension in the 2011/2012 financial year.
Addressing a press conference in Nakuru yesterday, the group claimed that the AG’s office is determined to block payment of their dues.
“We believe that it is the AG’s office that is hindering the execution of the decree,” the Retired Teachers Association Chairman Joseph Mwenja said.
He said they are demanding a total of Sh42 billion in outstanding allowances, and not Sh150 billion as some government officials are alleging. The group Secretary Gidraph Kimatta said they were not seeking any favours from the government over the settlement of their dues.
“No amount of intimidation or the highest degree of impunity will deter us from pursuing full settlement of our claim,” Mr Kimatta added.
A week ago, a Nakuru Court ordered TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni to be detained for six months at Kamiti Prison in Nairobi should he fail to release the retired teachers dues within 90 days.
“I find him guilty of contempt of legitimate court orders by failing to pay the applicants salary and arrears and consequential pensions based upon the last salaries accrued under the Collective Bargaining Agreement of 1997 with the Kenya National Union of Teachers declared to be due and payable per the court orders and sentence him to six months detention in Kamiti Maximum Prison,” Justice Anyara Emukule stated. The TSC was ordered to pay the teachers who retired after the 1997 pay hike deal benefits based on the entire salary increment agreement.
The High Court ordered that future pension payments for the retirees be based on the entire salary increment of 1997.
