Catholic Church offers to mediate in teachers’ pay dispute
Officials of the Uasin Gishu branches of the Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers join teachers in a protest in Eldoret Town on September 14, 2015. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- He said the parties should seek a lasting solution for the sake of Kenyan children.
- Catholic bishops said they are ready to mediate between teachers and the government to find a solution to the current crisis.
Catholic Church bishops on Wednesday said they are ready to mediate between teachers and the government over the pay dispute.
The chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops, Rev Philip Anyolo, asked the teachers’ unions, the Teachers Service Commission and the government to drop their hard-line positions and embrace dialogue.
He said the parties should seek a lasting solution for the sake of Kenyan children.
"We, the religious leaders, are ready to mediate in this process to find an amicable and lasting solution to the current impasse to enable normal learning to resume," he said.
Rev Anyolo was speaking Wednesday at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi where 25 Catholic bishops signed a statement calling for an end to the stalemate.
The bishops' statement was also signed by Cardinal John Njue.
They asked the TSC, the Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers to accept an independent mediator to facilitate discussions that would end the strike.
Teachers in public schools have been on strike for three weeks, demanding the adoption of a 50-60 per cent salary increase awarded to them by the Employment and Labour Relations Court and upheld by the Court of Appeal last month.
