Teachers provide useful lesson on ethos that define this nation

I want to fully associate with the teachers’ quest for more pay, not because I am a teacher – which should be enough motivation – but because they are doing what’s expected of them.

In this country, the culture of kinyang’anyiro (contestation) has become accepted as the core of the way we relate. There is no respect for rule of law – the unions are suing the Government for contemptuously disregarding a court order – our leaders have discarded reason in any conversation.

That’s why the MPs are able to ignore any wise counsel against awarding themselves hefty salaries and allowances because Kenyans’ taxes can hardly afford to sustain their bloated egos – which can only be accommodated in spacious four-wheel drives and several homes, including mistresses.

Institutions that challenge this attitude are reminded who really calls the shots. Just as the former bosses at the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, which was constitutionally dissolved and those at the helm hounded out of town.

Even the threat to wind up the Salaries and Remuneration Commission has not really gone away.

So, what are teachers expected to do if they want more money? They sure cannot dissolve constitutional outfits, but they have the power to ensuring their voices are heard, even when their agitations are met with stone-hard silence.