Members of Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) from Murang’a County have vowed to continue with their strike until the government heeds to their demands.
Speaking to the press, KUPPET Chair, Murang’a branch, Michael Gachema, stated that the strike will go on until the government addresses the pertinent issues affecting teachers across the country.
One of the grievances, Gachema noted is that more than 1,500 teachers from Murang’a have worked for more than 15 years without promotions and in spite of these teachers having completed the interviews required for promotion, the government has not promoted them.
“Promotions are long overdue for about 130,000 teachers in the country who have been doing interviews for a long time and getting negative verdicts and we are saying it is evil for teachers to work for more than 15 years without any promotion,” he said.
Further, Gachema said that the government failed to honor its pledge of increasing teachers’ salaries by July, exposing teachers to hefty work without good pay.
“Teachers of Murang’a County have boycotted work starting today because the government has failed to honor their pledge; we expected an increment in our pay starting July, our teachers in Murang’a are saying no to labor without good pay.” Gachema said.
The KUPPET Executive Secretary in Murang’a, John Mburu pointed out that for the past six months, the government has not been sending funds to SACCOs and banks even though teachers with loans from these institutions are still having money deducted from their salaries to repay their loans.
“Not remitting funds to Saccos and banks impacts teachers’ credit scores negatively, and risks having them listed at Credit Reference Bureau.” He said.
“Government has been doing deductions but when we go to the Saccos and banks, we are told that money is not remitted to the banks therefore teachers are getting frustrated because they cannot get loans and can be listed in CRB,” he explained.
Mburu also urged the government to disburse funds to the new medical insurance scheme since teachers are using their own money to pay for hospital services yet they have a medical cover.
“Teachers used to be given a medical allowance, but now the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) is not working for teachers as the government has not yet remitted funds. The money is to be remitted to service providers.” Mburu said.
Further, he said that KUPPET demands that Junior Secondary School interns be employed on a permanent and pensionable basis promptly as promised.
The union representatives pleaded with parents to understand that they are fighting for their rights and assured them that teachers would get back to their workstations as soon as the government resolves their issues.
By Purity Mugo
