Immediately after the President’s William Ruto statement at the cabinet meeting recently to come up with a strategy to collect over KSh 5 trillion to jump-start Kenya’s journey to Singapore status, teachers who spoke to Education News vowed to resist any attempt further to see more deductions on their already tattered payslips.
Speaking from Western, Central, Nyanza, North Rift and Eastern regions, the teachers registered their frustrations over what they termed as too much taxation that has remained to yield too little since the Kenya Kwanza government took over.
“We hear of politicians allied to the Government talking of massive transformation in all sectors but it only seems to happen in the papers,” said Abilla Rogo a tutor from Rusinga Islands in Homa Bay County.
“I am a teacher of History and Government, and what I know about the Asian Tigres is that their revolution to the first world league was systematic and hinged on policies that never impoverished its residents,” replied Mildred Waceke, a senior teacher from Kiambu County.
She further said that any meaningful transformation should not cause major economic hardship for those taking part.
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Most tutors from the North Rift were of the opinion that any further mutilation of their payslips will trigger industrial action by the teaching fraternity. They said that the union leadership has remained mum and always in support of government policies that infringe their rights.
“When unions don’t come out to give their views and stand on critical issues like the one the president touched while touring Kiambu, we remain wondering whether they are still working for the teachers who elected them,” commented Shamoya Mukwana from Kakamega County.
A recent survey by Education News on the social status of the teachers during the 2025 December holidays revealed that a number of them were finding it hard to enjoy the vacation, unlike the same time last year.
Teachers interviewed claimed that their purchasing power had shrunk, forcing some to fail to visit their families back at home.
“Imagine most of us never travelled to our ancestral homes because of a lack of enough money to go and spend with our relatives back at home,” said Athman Muguna, a teacher from Nairobi County.
During his visit to Kiambu County, the president said the cabinet will meet on Monday to chart ways to raise over KSh5 trillion shillings for the national development strategy aimed at transforming Kenya into a first-world economy over the next two or three decades.
This, he claimed, will put Kenya into a trajectory of moving towards becoming a first-world economy to match the Asian Tigers -Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia.
By Naboth Murunga
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