State demonstrated insensitivity in handling strike

In a discussion forum this week, I was reminded of the Latin Maxim Fiat justitia ruat Caelum, which translates to “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.” This legal maxim couldn’t be more apt in the ongoing row between teachers and their employer. Justice must be done regardless of the consequences. It is true that paying teachers is expensive, but everything worth something always is.

The argument has been advanced that it is unsustainable to honour the court order directing TSC to pay a salary increment of 50 to 60 per cent. Yet a glance at the Auditor General’s report reveals there is more than enough to pay teachers if only graft can be reined in. At any rate, our MPs and some civil servants are some of the best paid in the world. Why did the unsustainability argument not apply to them? If it is unsustainable to pay teachers, it must also be unsustainable to continue paying king’s ransoms to some other public servants. Most importantly, the award is a result of a court process which the TSC itself initiated and which had come to its logical outcome. Let the heavens fall if they must, but the court order must be respected.