Teachers strike in push for big pay rise

The Kenya National Union of Teachers called off a 12-day strike in October 1997 after the government gave in to their demand of a salary and allowance increase.

The deal would raise the salary and allowances of teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission by between 150 and 200 percent depending on rank.

This increment would be implemented over a five-year period. After this period, the teachers’ pay would culminate to Sh88 billion.

This increment had initially been proposed in 1987 by a Teachers Service Remuneration Committee (TSC) led by Dr Taaita Toweett.

However, the initial demand made by KNUT and TSRC to have their pay implemented over a two-year period had not been met.

The increase meant that the lowest paid teacher in the P1 job group earned a monthly pay of Sh 2,726, up from Sh1,880.

Conversely, the highest paid teacher would earn Sh23,893 from Sh19, 115.

The deal offered five allowances: house (50 percent of the basic salary), medical (20 percent), responsibility (45 percent), special hardship (10 percent) and automatic commuter (10 percent).

It meant salaries would account for 86 percent of the Sh32.6 billion budget allotted to the Ministry of Education for the 1997/8 financial year.

The question was why would the government risk giving so much money, yet on June 30, 1997, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had suspended a Sh8.3 billion funding from the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility due to corruption in the civil service.

This implied that the Kenyan government was taking a financial risk yet it did not have enough funds to commit itself to paying the new salary for teachers. Two factors explain this.

First, the strike had been called as 540,000 students waited to sit their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.

Consequently, there was massive public pressure for the government to settle the strike so the students can sit exams without interruptions.

Secondly, the 1997 General Election was approaching. Each of the 260,000 teachers represented a massive vote bloc the ruling party Kanu did not want to risk losing.

POLITICAL UNREST

By ending the teachers’ strike, Moi’s government would also appear as reformist to international donors.

Since July, they had made it clear that aid would only be given if the government ended political unrest brought by the clamour for democracy.

The people behind this new pay deal were KNUT’s secretary general Ambrose Adongo and a committee appointed by President Moi on October 10, 1997.

Preparation for the strike started on July 2, 1997. Education minister Joseph Kamotho had received a 1997 report from the TSRC to determine how much teachers should be paid.

The report proposed that the government should offer teachers employed by TSC a salary increment of between 10 to 28 percent.

This proposal contradicted the 1987 agreement of 150-200 percent salary and allowance increment.

However, Kamotho argued that if the government implemented the 1987 demand, the government would lose 56 percent of its total tax revenue.

However, KNUT argued that the 1987 increment could be given in phases of two years, not in whole.

When Kamotho and KNUT could not agree, on September 3, 1997, Adongo issued a 21-day strike notice, arguing that teachers would to only stop when their pay increment demand was met.

The then Minister for Labour, Philip Masinde threatened Adongo with a legal suit but KNUT stood its ground.

Even when Kamotho offered teachers employed by the TSC a 15 to 100 percent house and special pay allowance, KNUT reiterated its initial stand.

Last minute attempts by Masinde to sue KNUT were all in vain as on October 1, 1997, teachers went on a strike that affected learning in public primary and secondary schools.

It was only Moi’s intervention that broke the impasse. He formed a four-man committee to dialogue with KNUT to find an amicable solution to the problem.

The committee comprised the Head of the Civil Service, Fares Kuindwa, Solicitor-General Aaron Ringera, Treasury PS Simeon Lesirma and KNUT officials.

Teachers were represented by KNUT Chairman John Katumanga, secretary-general Adongo and National Treasurer John Bosco Mboga.

On October 12 1997, the committee recommended that the increment of 150 to 200 percent be effected over a five-year period.

The pay would be however backdated back to July 1, 1997 and end in the same month in 2002.The government-KNUT agreement was gazette as Legal Notice number 543 of 1997.

However, the refusal of the government to fulfill this legal notice led to many strikes by teachers in the next 16 years. In October 1998, there was another strike by KNUT.

By 2013, the basic pay and special hardship allowance under legal notice 534 of 1997 has been implemented. The other four allowances are yet to be paid.

In 2013, KNUT’s argument is that teachers should be paid the same amount, based on rank, as other civil servants