Pay the retired teachers now to end suffering

It is now five years since the High Court in Nakuru awarded Sh42 billion to retired teachers pertaining to unpaid salary raises and accrued pension from a July 1997 agreement with their former employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

The government appealed the ruling but the retired tutors won the case once more. The government has however been dilly-dallying in releasing the money as awarded.

The recent demand by the Attorney General‘s office that the retired teachers produce their personnel and national social security numbers, national identity cards and appointment letters for the Attorney General‘s (AG) office to help clear the arrears raises more questions than answers.

While it is in order for the government to verify the true beneficiaries, the call for the retired teachers to surrender the required documents raises more questions on the custody of public servants‘documents.

Is it really possible that these documents are not with the Ministry of Education or is the government using this as a delaying tactic? Instead of asking teachers to produce the papers, let the AG contact TSC to give details of these pensioners. Let the concerned government agencies fast track the payment of the retired teachers. Pay retired teachers their dues unconditionally, they have suffered a lot.