TSC withdraws contempt charge against teachers' union

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has withdrawn contempt of court proceedings against a teachers' union.

State Counsel Mwangi Njoroge Tuesday told Industrial Court Judge Linet Ndolo that TSC had decided to withdraw the application to allow Knut chairman Wilson Sossion and his secretary Mudzo Nzili to comply with the court orders served upon them personally on Monday afternoon.

The State counsel said that should the officials fail to comply with the orders issued on July 1, 2013 by the same judge, TSC will file a new contempt of court proceedings.

"We ask that this matter be mentioned on Wednesday July 10, to confirm if the Knut officials will have complied with the court orders we had personally served on them yesterday (Monday)," said Mr Njoroge.

Lady Justice Linet Ndolo reiterated that whether the application has been withdrawn, the court order remains in force and has to be respected by the Knut officials.

The move will allow the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) to call off the teachers' strike within 24 hours.

On Monday, the industrial court approved TSC's application to press contempt charges against Mr Wilson Sossion and Mr Nzili for defying a court order to call off the strike.

TSC's decision comes a day after the government put a Sh17 billion deal on the table to end the teachers’ strike.

Teachers Service Commission boss Gabriel Lengoiboni met officials of Knut and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) in a bid to reach an agreement, which will pave the way for resumption of learning in public schools across the country.

Mr Lengoiboni, however, did not reveal the details of the offer, which the government hopes will be agreed upon by the teachers, who have been agitating for increased allowances in line with a deal that was signed in 1997.

"The government has a very lucrative offer for the teachers and I am hopeful it will be an acceptable proposal to enable children to go back to class," he said.