Knut: No more talks with State on teachers' pay increase

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has ruled out any further talks with the government on raising teachers' salaries.

Instead, Secretary-General Wilson Sossion says the government should make haste and honour the court ruling that offered them a 50 and 60 per cent pay rise.

“What now remains is for the government to respect the rule of law and pay the teachers,” he said on Sunday, adding that failure to heed the ruling would prompt teachers to down their tools.

He made the remarks at the Riverside Africa Gospel Church in Bomet Town moments after meeting the union’s Bomet County officials.

Mr Sossion said it beats logic for the government to claim it has no money to pay teachers yet it has cash to bail out run-down State corporations.

KEEP OFF SCHOOL

“It is foolhardy for the government to say that it has no money to pay teachers on the grounds that the same had not been budgeted for yet it recently bailed out some companies, including Mumias Sugar, yet these funds had not been budgeted for,” he said.

Teachers across the country, he said, should keep off schools if the government does not increase their salaries.

“Parents should not waste their time sending their children to school as the institutions will be deserted by the teaching force,” he said.

Last week, Deputy President William Ruto appealed to teachers to be patient as the government prepares to implement the Supreme Court ruling that requires Sh17 billion.

MONEY CALL

Meanwhile, teachers in Trans Mara on Monday called for the jailing of TSC top officials should they fail to honour the court ruling increasing their salaries.

Led by Knut Trans Mara branch chairman Bernard Ketere, the teachers said all they wanted was money in their accounts.

“We are not ready to negotiate on anything other than money in our accounts,” he said.

They said they were ready to join their colleagues in a nationwide strike if their pay is not revised upwards.