Senior school heads in Murang’a County have raised concerns over a growing number of retired and former employees returning to schools to demand gratuity payments, years after leaving service.
Led by Murang’a KESSHA Chairperson Peter Stanley Gitu, the principals said the trend has placed school administrations under pressure, as many of the claims lack proper documentation or clear contractual backing.
Gitu noted that some of the individuals seeking payments exited employment long ago, making it difficult for current school heads to verify the terms of engagement or any agreements made at the time.
“We have cases of workers who left many years ago coming back to demand gratuity, yet current administrators have no knowledge of the contracts or arrangements made between them and the institutions,” he said.
He added that the situation has left many school heads in a dilemma, as schools operate on tight budgets with no provisions to settle such unexpected and often unverified claims.
The chairperson called on the Ministry of Education to intervene and provide clear policy guidelines to address the issue and protect school administrations from incurring irregular liabilities.
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Gitu further urged the Ministry to introduce firm measures to prevent former employees from receiving double benefits.
“The Ministry should provide clear direction to ensure that retirees do not benefit twice, both from National Social Security Fund and gratuity payments,” he said.
Gitu further raised concern over what he termed as unrealistic and ballooning water bills being issued to learning institutions across the county.
He revealed that some schools are now receiving monthly water bills amounting to more than Ksh380, 000, a drastic spike that has left administrators puzzled and distressed.
“We used to get bills ranging between Ksh69, 000 and Ksh80, 000, but in the past few months some schools are receiving bills exceeding Ksh380, 000. It’s alarming,” he said.
Gitu said the sudden surge is straining the already limited school budgets and called for an urgent audit of water billing systems to ascertain the cause of the sharp increase.
He urged the relevant authorities to step in and ensure accurate, consistent and fair billing for public institutions.
Gitu further revealed that school heads have already escalated the matter to the Murang’a County Government and are in the process of drafting a formal petition to both the Murang’a County Assembly and the Senate of Kenya seeking intervention.
He said the move aims to push for urgent investigations and relief measures to shield schools from the burden of inflated utility bills.
At the same time, the chairperson urged the Ministry of Education to ensure timely disbursement of learning materials and resources for Grade 10 students to prevent disruption of learning.
According to Gitu, some of the subjects introduced under the new curriculum are highly technical and resource-intensive, requiring adequate preparation and sufficient instructional materials.
“Subjects such as woodwork are quite sophisticated and require proper textbooks, equipment and other learning resources to be taught effectively,” he said.
He warned that delays in the supply of the materials could undermine the quality of education and negatively impact learners’ preparedness.
By Shaban Omar
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