MOMBASA, Kenya, Jul 27 – Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Chairman Ibrahim Hussein on Wednesday announced that teachers would get a 20 percent salary increase at the end of this month.
He said the increase was part of what was negotiated between the teachers and the government.
Although he said teachers were at liberty to negotiate better terms, they should in turn offer improved teaching services, “Teachers are free to negotiate better pay but as your employer we will demand better services in return.”
Mr Hussein also appealed to the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers and the Kenya Union of Teachers (KUPPET) to maintain harmony after allegations that one of them was being favoured in the TSC draft Bill.
He assured them that they would all be recognised as he announced that all stakeholders would be called soon to give their views before the draft is presented to Parliament for discussion.
His reaction was engineered by threats that KUPPET was planning a strike if they were sidelined in representing their group in the Teachers’ Salaries and Remuneration Committee (TSRC) and the Teachers Service Disciplinary Committee (TSDC).
“I want to advise KUPPET to hold their horses regarding this matter and that there is no controversy as earlier reported, both the unions are recognized by TSC and that we are not biased in anyway,” she asserted.
The two unions have sharply differed if the union with the majority membership should represent them or each one of them nominates representatives individually to the committees. They have also failed to agree on crucial recommendations on the TSC draft bill.
As a way of ensuring equal representation, he said all relevant teachers’ bodies would be invited in the discussions including Kenya Primary School Heads Association, the two unions, Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, and officials from the Education Ministry.
“It is not that TSC has said that only KNUT will be in the commission, its just that the union had earlier made proposals to us to allow them to represent teachers in the committee and even KUPPET can as well do the same,” he said.
