Former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) secretary general Wilson Sossion has assured teachers and their unions that they were in safe hands under President William Ruto’s government because he values education and respects trade unions.
He revealed that when the country was preparing for elections they came up with a very good education charter and most of the things in the charter have been implemented.
“I’m saying this as an insider. I know there are leaders who tried to speak with the former regime and were defeated, even the opposition leader tried and was defeated too.
Like Joseph of the Bible who went to Egypt I want to assure the teachers that they are now in a better place and are safe,” Said Sossion.
He said the president was very committed to education and teachers’ welfare and true to his word, the delocalization of teachers was lifted.
He also said TPD was done away with so that teachers don’t pay and will be trained at the cost of the government through the Kenya School of Government.
Former KNUT boss added that the president was very keen during the signing of the charter and now about 56, 000 teachers are employed across the country.
He said under Ruto’s regime CBC issues have been addressed through a robust presidential working party for education reforms.
“There was the issue of where the junior secondary would be domiciled that is grades 7, 8, and 9 which was critical but it has been resolved.
Sossion stated that the new university funding model will see all children from poor households get full scholarships and loans from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) which has been increased from Sh. 13 billion to Sh. 30 billion.
He said teachers’ promotion has been taken back to merit.
The former Knut SG was speaking during the burial of a retired teacher and a unionist Benson Kithuku at Nthaani, Kitundu, Mbooni West sub-county in Makueni county.
He suggested that one of the institutions in the sub-county should be named after Kithuku.
He eulogized Kithuku as a personal friend who took him to KNUT adding that he was a successful national leader.
“Do you remember when Makueni county, by then a district, used to be number one in national exams? That was when Kithuku was executive secretary and many of your children here succeeded under his leadership. He was a quality national leader,” Said Sossion.
The late Kithuku served as Makueni KNUT Executive Secretary between 1994-2006 before joining politics. He vied for the Mbooni constituency seat in 2013 and 2017 but lost in both elections.
Speaking at the same event, Makueni County governor Mutula Kilonzo also eulogized Kithuku as a development-oriented leader.
KNUT deputy national treasurer Muuo Ndiku congratulated the presidential party on education reforms for providing superb recommendations that would see the education sector revamped.
On intern teachers, he said the government should ensure that they serve not more than six months before they are hired permanently without going for any further interviews.
He also asked the government to plow back ECDE to the national government so that they could be employed by the TSC.
“They should get salaries which are equal to their job. They should get unified salaries. They get very low salaries as low as Ksh. 10, 000 which is not commensurate to their difficult task,” Said Ndiku.
By Lydia Ngoolo
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