Matiang’i takes over, assures teachers of September pay

BY OLIVE BURROWS | NOVEMBER 29, 2015

Matiang’i says the release of the funds follows consultative meetings with his treasury counterpart Henry Rotich, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and Attorney General/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 29 – Fred Matiang’i takes over the Education docket with a bang by announcing through his Twitter account that teachers will begin receiving their September salaries from Monday.

Matiang’i says the release of the funds follows consultative meetings with his Treasury counterpart Henry Rotich, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and Attorney General.

Matiang’i says he will also hold a consultative meeting with the Kenya National Union Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) on Monday morning on the subject of union dues among other things.

“Looking forward to working respectfully with all stakeholders,” the former ICT and Lands Cabinet Secretary tweeted.

On November 20 Justice Nelson Abuodha of the Employment and Labour Relations court declined to stay his order directing TSC to pay teachers for the month of September when they were on strike as he’d found it, “protected in law.”

TSC had sought a stay pending the determination of an appeal they’d filed contesting the directive on the grounds that a court cannot order an employer to pay for services not rendered.

READ: Court to rule if teachers should get September pay

On November 11, following a meeting with the TSC, KNUT and KUPPET officials, President Uhuru Kenyatta called on the TSC, “to consider paying all the teachers their September salaries and union dues at the earliest opportunity.”

But they did not immediately follow through and put the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations negotiated by President Kenyatta at the State House meeting, on tenuous footing.

READ: KNUT Executive Council endorses pact negotiated by Uhuru

President Kenyatta negotiated a deal that required the parties to terminate all court proceedings and negotiate a CBA within a month of Wednesday’s meeting.

A CBA which would bring an end to the perennial teachers’ strikes such as were witnessed in January and September this year, leading to a fierce court room court room battle that went up to the Court of Appeal and was on its way to the Supreme Court prior to President Kenyatta’s intervention.

READ: Gloves off as Appeal court puts off hearing case on teachers’ pay

KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion has many a time blamed Matiang’i’s predecessor Jacob Kaimenyi’s high-handedness, at least in part, for the drawn out pay dispute and many other woes.

http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2015/11/matiangi-takes-over-assures-teachers-of-september-pay/