Lack of harmonization of the Municipal Enhanced Allowance (MEA) for teachers in both primary and secondary schools in Trans Nzoia has been identified as the major cause of imbalance of staffing of teachers in the county.
This is also the same in other counties where municipal local authorities existed before the 2010 New Constitution; like Kisumu, Nakuru, Kwale, Kilifi, Meru and Kisii towns that were headed by Mayors.
According to the Trans Nzoia Chairman of KUPPET Eliud Wafula, the imbalance of the teachers has made teachers in rural areas to seek transfers to the favored urban-based schools so that they could benefit from these special allowances set to offset their housing schemes.
And when the matter was set to be discussed by the National Assembly after being presented by the former Cabinet Secretary for Interior Prof Kindiki Kithure before he was appointed as the Deputy President leaving the issue in abeyance.
The matter has yet to be addressed by the incumbent Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen since assuming office over few months ago to alleviate the growing concern of potential movement of teachers from rural areas to towns, cities and the newly-elevated municipalities under the devolved governments.
Wafula says the boundaries dictating for teachers to benefit from the MEA are in accordance with the areas drawn by the Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission IEBC as Wards and Constituencies that belonged to the old Local Authorities where the Ministry of Education (MoE) have no authority.
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For example, teachers at St Antony’s Boys’ Secondary in Kitale are entitled to the MES while those of the neighboring St Monica’s Girls’ High School are not benefactors. Reason: St Monica’s is situated within Kwanza Constituency which created after the existence of the redundant Kitale municipality.
Some of the schools with both primary and secondary sections are experiencing the ambiguities include St. Columban’s, Kibomet Mixed, Hill School, Matisi Mixed, Maziwa and Tuwan Girls’.
The irony of the same is whereas teachers in a primary school section are being paid for the special allowance unlike those in the secondary section within the same compound are left out. This is because the primary section was built during the old days under the management of municipal councils.
“Who needs the allowances most, the teacher in the rural area or in the urban? Definitely, the man or woman living in the rural areas has more challenges of housing and cost of living than the one teaching in the urban schools’’, he said.
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Consequently, the Trans-Nzoia KUPPET have petitioned the top union’s organs to revive the matter with the Ministry of Interior and the National Assembly for the MEA to be paid to teachers in regard to geographical boundaries other than basing out on political borders of Wards and Constituencies.
Additionally, the KUPPET branch has written to all the MPs in the county Kakai Bisau (Kiminini), Dr Robert Pukose (Endebess), Ferninard Wanyonyi (Kwanza) Caleb Amisi (Saboti), Patrick Simiyu (Cherangany) and Women Rep Lilian Siyoi also to look in the legislation that could support local national secondary schools to have all their teachers being paid salaries by the MoE.
The branch cited the Alliance Boys’ and Alliance Girls’ as some of the national high schools that have no Board of Management BOM teachers with all being seconded to them by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
“This is the opposite with our national schools in Trans- Nzoia like St Joseph’s Boys’ and St Brigid’s Girls’ where the BOM have been allowed to hire teachers on contracts’’, Wafula said, adding that the teachers in national schools countrywide should be allowed to enjoy the specks.
In the vein, the Kitale National Polytechnic was recently placed under the Public Service Commission (PSC) payroll “as the best priority’’ after undergoing strenuous struggles of paying its tutors and instructors
.The branch noted with no Form Classes for this current education year under the CBC, the workload had reduced significantly across the board and they expected the release of teachers to understaffed schools to be a smooth exercise.
For Trans Nzoia County, the TSC director Solomon Lesewo has stressed the need for the rural schools to be given special attention for more teachers during the transfer period.
According Wafula, the TSC director had implement the movement based on Ward levels starting with primary schools “with minimum noises”.
BY ABISAI AMUGUNE
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