Judge recuses herself in teachers arrears case

A High Court judge has disqualified herself from presiding over a case filed by 52,000 retired teachers seeking Sh42.3 billion as pension arrears.

Lady Justice Maureen Odero sitting in Nakuru on Friday said she was not familiar with the case in which the retirees want the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia jailed for six months for failing to implement a Supreme Court order to pay them pension arrears.

Lady Justice Odero has instead referred the matter back to Lady Justice Janet Mulwa, who previously handled the case, to give further directions on the fate of the TSC boss who failed to show up in court on Friday.

“Since the matter has been in the court for a long time, I will refer it back to the judge who is much familiar with it,” she directed.

Justice Mulwa had on May 31 summoned the TSC boss to explain why she should not be committed to a six-month jail term for contempt of court. Ms Macharia appeared in court last week.

However, the secretary Legislative Affairs and Regulatory Compliance in the Office of the President, Mr Jasper Mbiuki, representing the TSC boss told the court that the government was committed to clearing the debt.

The court heard that a committee to speed up the payment of the pension arrears to the retired teachers had been formed following a directive from President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Mr Mbiuki said the committee comprising of the Attorney-General, the pensions department, the National Treasury, TSC and other offices would meet soon to resolve the problem.

He also confirmed that Sh3 billion had been approved by the National Assembly for settling part of the debt.

“Already Sh1.5 billion has been released to the pensions department. The other Sh1.5 billion has been approved by Parliament and will be released in the next two months in the new financial year,” he said.

The retired teachers through their lawyer, Mr Dominic Kimata, however, filed an application requesting the court to issue summons for the TSC boss and the Director of Pensions to appear in court on July 5, when the judgment will be made.

The retirees, who were covered by the 1997 agreement between the government and Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) sued TSC in 2006, are claiming unpaid lump-sum salary raises and accrued pension from July 1997.

The retirees, for the first time, won the case on October 23, 2008 before Judge David Maraga who ruled that they were entitled to their retirement benefits.

The teachers’ commission challenged the award through the Court of Appeal but a three-judge bench upheld the High Court judgment.

On December last year, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the TSC challenging the pay award, granting the retired teachers their desire.