Retired teachers in pursuit of Sh42bn pension arrears

Former teacher Thomas Kipyegon has spent the better part of the last 18 years at the Nakuru law courts.

The 76-year old from Kuresoi North in Nakuru County is one of the 52,000 retired teachers who have been battling for payment of their salaries and pension arrears amounting to Sh42.3 billion.

However, the struggle and long wait is yet to yield fruit nearly two decades later as the former teachers live in agony and struggle to make ends meet.

For Mzee Kipyegon, his former employer the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Pensions department appear to have neglected them despite having served diligently as tutors.

“I have gone through agony waiting for the pension arrears. My family is on the verge of destitution following what appears to be a failure by the TSC and the Pensions department to process the payments,” he told the Sunday Nation.

Mr Kipyegon worked as a teacher for more 34 years before he retired in 1997.

Since then, he says, they have been compelled to move from office to office to get the necessary paper work done hoping that the arrears could be released.

“Most of my fruitful time was spent serving my country, but l now live like a pauper,” says Mzee Kipyegon. Some of his children he says have failed to join college because of lack of fees.

He told the Sunday Nation that one of them dropped from a Teachers Training College last year due to financial constraints.

FACING HARDSHIPS

His situation is an example of the hardships many of his colleagues go through as they battle in court to get the payments.

Ms Hellen Simiyu from Turbo in Uasin Gishu County also a former teacher says the successive governments after the Moi regime have neglected them. She remembers a trip by a section of teachers to former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s office in 2009.

She says Mr Odinga promised to address the issue immediately. But years have passed with nothing coming forth.

“I have been forced to rely on loans from Saccos and returns from farming as l struggle to pay fees for my children. It has been a journey of agony,” she told the Sunday Nation.

The ex-teachers paint a picture of tutors who have been neglected by a government they served diligently.

The Sunday Nation also learnt that some of the retirees have since died without tasting the fruits of their labour. The retired teachers have exhausted all legal avenues that blocked the payments having won all cases filed by their former employer TSC.

According to the retirees lawyer Mr Dominic Kimata, more than 1,000 members of the group have since died without benefiting from the reward advanced to them by retired President Daniel arap Moi.

Their unpaid dues have been accruing interest at the rate of 14 per cent per annum since the initial judgement was made by Justice David Maraga on October 23, 2008 against the commission.

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

The former teachers drawn from various parts of the country have been entangled in vicious court battles with the TSC since 2008 with the court imposing a six-months jail term for contempt against former TSC boss Gabriel Lengoiboni more than thrice.

ATTACHED DOCUMENTS

TSC however, on several occasions has attached documents in court aimed at clearing the debt.

To fight for their rightful dues, the retirees through their spokesman Mr Joseph Mwenja and a committee of six members established an office at Nakuru from where they have been fighting for the benefits.

On December last year Supreme Court ordered TSC to pay the retired teachers a directive which has not been implemented to date.

TSC had moved to the Supreme Court seeking stay orders against judgement by the Court of Appeal, which had directed TSC and the Pensions Department to pay the retirees.

For Mr Mwenja and his team, the journey started on October 10, 1997 when then President Daniel arap Moi sought to know the reason for the frequent teachers’ strikes. The committee was given 48 hours to compile a report and submit it to the then President.

It did so the following day. Based on the report, the government increased teachers’ salary by between 150 and 200 per cent. This was to be implemented in five phases, starting from November 1, 1997 and backdated to July 1, of the same year.

However, the other phases were not implemented until the Kanu government was removed from power in 2002. Teachers who retired or were retrenched between 1997 and 2002 did not benefit from the increment.

This prompted Mr Mwenja and his team to seek legal redress. Recently, a Nakuru High Court summoned the Director of Pensions and TSC boss Nancy Macharia to appear in court to explain why the former teachers have not received their pension arrears despite several court orders for the same.

However, despite the TSC Chief Executive Officer’s assurance that the retirees will soon get Sh3billion part of the arrears, it remains to be seen if the government will disburse the amount to the former teachers.