TSC writes warning letters to 5,000 heads as teachers remain adamant

Teachers have said they will not be intimidated into going back to work as Cord leaders urged them not to relent until their demands are met.

And as the strike entered its seventh working day Wednesday, the Teachers Service Commission said it had written warning letters to 5,000 headteachers, deputy headteachers and other senior teachers asking them to explain why they had failed to follow its instructions on how to handle the strike.

The senior teachers were given 14 days to respond to disciplinary issues raised against them or face the sack.

On Wednesday, the striking teachers held demonstrations in various towns, including Nairobi, Nyeri and Nakuru, to pile pressure on the TSC to pay them the new salaries awarded to them by courts.

The Court of Appeal last month ordered the commission to pay the teachers an increase of between 50 and 60 per cent spread over four years.

PAYMENT BACKDATED

The payment was to be backdated to July and is expected to cost Sh17 billion this financial year.

During the prayer rally at Uhuru Park in Nairobi, seven ODM lawmakers, led by chairman John Mbadi, said the government has various ways to raise the money.

“Let the government not decide for you that they have no money to pay teachers more,” said Mr Mbadi.

Top government officials should do away with frequent harambees where millions of shillings are dished out but the source of such donations remain unclear, the Suba MP said.

Further, he added, President Kenyatta should not continue ignoring teachers’ demands, and warned that failure to honour court verdicts could lead to a total collapse of the rule of law.

SOSSION: WE WON'T BUDGE'

Addressing the poorly attended meeting, Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary-General Wilson Sossion said teachers would not return to work until they are paid even if the TSC begins taking disciplinary action against some of them.

“We will fight till we win. TSC took us round boardrooms and round courts. We will not return to class until we are paid,” Mr Sossion said.

He claimed the Ministry of Education was planning to close schools Friday, but warned that such a move would be futile as students and teachers did not report for the third term.

“These schools never opened in the first place. Pay teachers today and tomorrow they will report to duty. If you do not pay, then let TSC prepare 280,000 sacking letters.”

Mr Mbadi had said the government could also pay teachers through a supplementary Budget and afterwards seek approval from Parliament within two months.

He said the government could use the Sh14 billion set aside for laptops for primary school children and divert money from the security budget to raise the funds needed to pay teachers.

GENERAL STRIKE THREAT

According to Mr Mbadi, the money in the security budget was being wasted through fictitious expenditure.

Addressing the gathering, Cotu Secretary-General Francis Atwoli said the government had until Sunday to implement the pay rise or face a general strike by workers.

“Corruption is the problem as to why teachers are not being paid,” he said.

Trade Union Congress of Kenya Secretary-General Charles Mukhwaya said that if teachers are not paid the new salaries, “workers will take over the Government”.

Mr Nathan Barassa, representing parents and children, said the government should pay the teachers promptly as they were losing a lot of learning hours.

“We are demanding that the government move fast to ensure that our children do not stay at home when the parents have paid school fees,” he said.