Documents reveals secret behind the national teachers' strike stalemate

Updated Tuesday, July 9th 2013 at 00:04 GMT +3

Knut chairman Sossion, assistant Secretary General Mudzo Nzili sign court order. [PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE/STANDARD]

By Alex Ndegwa

NAIROBI, KENYA: The government has flatly rejected teachers ’ demands for house  allowance equal to half of the basic salary because it Would occasion an additional Sh 28.8billion to the wage bill, the standard can reveal.

Currently the more than 250, 000 teachers are paid house allowances totaling Sh20.1billion, according to a document seen by the standard on Monday.

But the teachers’ union have pressed for house allowances calculated as 50 per cent of the basic salary, a demand that would require Sh48.9 billion to meet every year.

On Monday Knut officials returned to negotiate with the government over the strike that entered the third week.

In an apparent softening of the stand, Knut chairman Wilson Sossion led other national officials to a meeting with the Teachers Service Commission and Salaries Remuneration Commission (SRC)

The government repeatedly fears the spiral effect it would have should civil servants whose house allowance compares with that of teachers, also demand a pay rise.

There are more than twice as many civil servants as teachers hence an additional Sh60 billion would be required to harmonise their house allowances.  

The public service had 681,000 employees, according to a 2011 report by the National Bureau of Statistics. These included 219,000 in central government, other government bodies (127,000) and local government (75,000).

This would have a major implication to the total wage bill, argues the government.  The Sh28.8 billion for house allowance accounts for more than half of the Sh47 billion teachers want to settle contested allowances.

Authorities explained the additional expenditure did not factor arrears, considering the disputed deal dated back to 1997, and that it excluded two per cent increment for 2013/2014 basic salary.

Also it does not include recruitment of more teachers.

Apart from the stalemate over house allowances, reports indicate there is no major difference over the other two allowances: medical and commuter.

harmonise allowance

The Government reportedly has offered Sh11.5 billion needed to harmonise commuter allowance but likely staggered in phases. 

Knut for the first time since the strike started shared a table with members of its rival union the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet).

But even as talks got underway, Knut was served with two Industrial Court orders: one compelling its leadership to call off the teachers’ strike and another for contempt of court.

The order compels Knut to appear in court today for the case in which the Government through Attorney General Githu Muigai wants the officials punished for contempt.

“We shall comply with the court orders as demanded and we are going to court in the morning. But we are not going to call off the strike until the National Executive Council (NEC) meets to make a decision on the matter,” Mudzo Nzili, the acting Knut secretary general said.

He said that Knut was not in contempt, as it had not been served with the court papers.

Nzili said the Government was dishonest in calling them for negotiations at TSC only to be ambushed by process servers.

Mr Sossion said the union leadership would not accept to be gagged and it will continue to fight for the rights of teachers.

The TSC secretary Mr Gabriel Lengoiboni said the meeting was makingprogress.

“We are in the process of giving a counter-proposal to the two unions. The court order should not stop us from engaging and what is important for us is to arrive at a consensus on the issues,” said Lengoiboni.

Lengoiboni said the Government was negotiating in good faith and has gone out of its way to give an offer to the teachers. “We have a lucrative offer to the teachers and we are giving them what they have not even negotiated for to demonstrate our good faith. We shall give the figures at the end of the meeting,” Lengoiboni said.

Government offer

It also emerged yesterday that the Government was offering Knut the same deal that Kuppet had agreed with the State last Friday after suspending the ongoing strike.

TSC held its ground saying it would only implement commuter, medical, special needs schools allowances but the other demands would be met at a later date.

Kuppet was represented by Secretary General Akello Misori while Stella Kinyua represented SRC at the meeting chaired by TSC Consultative Committee on Terms and Conditions of Service chairman Joseph Obonyo.

A government document seen by The Standard, which was offered to Kuppet and Knut during the meeting by the Lengoiboni indicated that the teachers’ employer would not negotiate on the leave and house allowances as demanded by the unions.

The Government would not also immediately address the employment of 23,000 Early Childhood Education (ECD) teachers because the central Government argued it is the responsibility of the County governments.

While Knut wanted the house allowance to be at 50 per cent of the basic pay and house allowance at 20 per cent Kuppet wanted harmonisation of the allowances for the teachers with those of the civil servants.

Budgetary constraints

“The Government is not ready to negotiate now on house allowance and leave due to budgetary constraints and the matter will be negotiated at a later date,” the document stated.

On medical allowances which Knut wanted pegged at 20 per cent of the basic pay, the government stated, “TSC is in advanced stage in signing agreement with National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and the union will be invited once the draft proposals are ready.”

For Kuppet, the Government said it would negotiate on harmonisation for teachers on job groups K to R as per current pay rate.

There was a stand-off when the meeting started with Kuppet and Knut differing on who should attend the meeting but the issue was resolved after half hour of haggling.