Teachers demand Sh3bn from TSC for hardship

Pupils study in a muddy classroom in Tiaty, Baringo County, in March 2014. Teachers Service Commission nominees vowed to bring back the controversial performance contracts if they are appointed. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • The Kenya Teachers in Hardship and Arid areas Welfare Association (Katha) has written to the Teachers Service Commission demanding that the money meant for 81,901 teachers be released within 21 days
  • On Sunday, the commission said it was yet to receive communication from the affected teachers, but was ready to discuss the matter if it came u

Teachers working in hardship areas are demanding the release of Sh3 billion special allowance erroneously withheld by the government for three years.

The Kenya Teachers in Hardship and Arid areas Welfare Association (Katha) has written to the Teachers Service Commission demanding that the money meant for 81,901 teachers be released within 21 days.

Mr Ndung’u Wangenye, the association’s secretary-general, said the affected teachers were denied an opportunity to earn hardship allowances pegged on 30 per cent of their basic salary in the late 1990s after their union signed a salary agreement with the government.

As a result, the affected teachers ended up losing allowances based on the newly increased salaries for three consecutive years.

The 21-day notice dated April 17 and filed through Nakuru-based lawyer Njagi Nderitu, said the allowances accumulated for 36 months from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012 when TSC rectified the anomaly following complaints by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Educational Teachers (Kuppet).

Mr Wangenye, who is also the Laikipia Branch Kuppet executive secretary, said he formally complained to the government in 2012, prompting TSC to correct the anomaly. However, the teachers’ employer did not backdate the payments.

“This is outright theft of hard-earned money that teachers in hardship areas were legally entitled to and we would wish to be told where it went since it had been released to TSC by the central government,” he said.

READY TO DISCUSS MATTER

On February 6, Mr Wangenye said, he wrote to the TSC secretary demanding an explanation as to when the arrears would be released. The TSC was yet to respond, he said.

On Sunday, the commission said it was yet to receive communication from the affected teachers, but was ready to discuss the matter if it came up.

“We are paying hardship allowance to teachers based in designated areas. Hardship areas are gazetted,” the TSC Head of Communications, Mr Kihumba Kamotho, said.

“At the moment, we have not received any communication from anybody with regards to hardship issues,” the official added.

“In the event that there are any issues, we are always ready to engage with our stakeholders. But as of now, no issues have been brought to our attention,” Mr Kamotho said.

However, Mr Wangenye said the silence by TSC left his association with no other option but to move to court. He said teachers who work in less developed and banditry-prone areas and those with harsh weather needed to know what happened to their money.

Some of the 47 regions hardest hit region that also have a high poverty and low life expectancy indices include the flood-prone Budalang’i, Nyeri’s Kieni region, Murang’a’s Makuyu, the entire Baringo, Samburu, Laikipia, Turkana, Garissa, Mandera, Wajir, Tana River and Lamu counties.   

Katha’s lawyer said the association had instructed him to demand prompt payment of the Sh3 billion the TSC owes.