Forget About Salary Increment, Ruto Tells Teachers
President William Ruto has turned down pay raises for teachers because he says the government doesn’t have enough money.
Teachers had hoped to get a raise after the budget is read in July, but it looks like this will not happen.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and teacher groups had also started talking about reviewing the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for 2021–2025.
Last week, on Thursday, the President met with the National Executive Council of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), and on Saturday, he met with the National Executive Council of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet).
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Knut wants his salary to go up by 60%, while Kuppet wants his salary to go up by 42%. But the President says that the economy is in bad shape and that the government can’t afford to raise salaries right now.
Kisii branch secretary Joseph Abincha said that the President wasn’t sure about the pay raise, but he did say that salaries would be looked at again when the economy got better.
The President met with teachers’ groups to try to get their help with the controversial 3% housing levy.
But teachers took the chance to ask for a pay raise before thinking about the 3% house fee.
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“The President has made up his mind about passing the Finance Bill.We gave our ideas and he gave his, but there were some things we didn’t agree on. We’re not against it just because we’re against it. “We have good reasons,” said a union worker who wasn’t allowed to speak for the union.
He said that when they left the meeting at the State House, they all decided that communication would come from the Kuppet national office.
Secretary-General Akello Misori did not answer phone calls or text messages, so no one was able to get a word from him.
His Knut partner, Collins Oyuu, also didn’t say anything. But some Kuppet groups have already told their members what’s going on.
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“Yesterday, we met with His Excellency at State House to talk about things. One at a time,,.The news from our branches about why teachers don’t want the 3% housing levy proposed in the Finance Bill 2023 has been given. Our talks were mostly about what was in the many papers that had already been sent to the National Assembly.
“In answer, the President said that the housing project was Kenya Kwanza’s most important work. Some of the ideas were to give our members a raise to help them out after this reduction. Again, the President did not promise a pay raise in the next fiscal year, according to a message from the Vihiga branch secretary, Sabala lnyeni.
A message from Okisai Moffats, who is the branch officer for Busia, describes a meeting that got out of hand.
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“All of our ideas and comments were turned down. A pay raise for teachers to help them keep up with inflation was turned down. A plan was made to make the housing program optional, but the answer was “it’s mandatory.” Support the housing plan or be ready for your groups to be dissolved. That was the message that wasn’t said. We ran into trouble, but the message got through. Anything else is lies,” said Mr Okisai.
Another branch secretary said that Mr. Misori came up with the ideas, but during the meeting, only about 12 branch secretaries spoke. “Watu waliogopa,” the official said, “people are afraid.”
Friday in Ernbu, President Ruto talked about his meeting with Knut the day before.
“Yesterday, I talked to teachers. They were whining about how low their pay is… Sh30.000. Sh900 is equal to 3%. The amount is a lot. And I told them that young Kenyans will be the ones to gain from it. “Perhaps even their own kids,” the President said.
About 360,000 teachers are on the payroll of the Teachers Service Commission, which is one of the biggest groups of government workers.
Forget About Salary Increment, Ruto Tells Teachers
