Migori Knut members on strike
The teachers have a legitimate demand. Their demands have been legally endorsed by the court. Both the lower and higher court. The government has no choice but to pay the teachers the 50-60% increment.
The government has shown that it’s looking for the potion to enable it do the needful.
What is however astonishing thing is the zeal with which this issue is handled as opposed to when the courts had awarded the 1997 retirees their pension benefit. The pensioners have the case in both the lower and the high courts yet have not been paid their inalienable rights. The TSC had even shown a contempt of court poster for which its secretary almost got jailed. He only escaped when he fled the country ostensibly go out of the country for official duties. He was only dodging the law to await his retirement.
It is however very sad to deny these senior citizens their money yet they served the country patriotically that long. Some of them have a waited for this money only for them to die before they were paid.
Even the union, KNUT and KUPPET which they were founder members of have ignored them. Let the KNUT and KUPPET include the retirees’ case in the current dispute because theirs is equally a legal court award of a similar magnitude.
One wonders why there is a lot of commotion following the teachers’ court award and strike notice while there has been awful silence in the retirees’ case.
Does the government only fear the strike or respecting the law? Should the former be the case then that’s a very unfortunate state of affairs which does not augur well with the good governance.
Isn’t it high time our Prisident intervened .Where is our flamboyant deputy president who is always witty in finding solutions to such national crisis.
The writer is a former Knut Secretary, Rongo branch
teachers are playing a pivotal role in shapping up kenyan citizens and the president and his government should not disregard that, they should not beg but government must respect court by paying up.