The government does not have the required funds to hire 26,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers on permanent terms as demanded by teachers’ unions, Treasury Cabinet Secretary (CS) John Mbadi has said.
While on an appearance at a local TV station, CS Mbadi stated that there was a Ksh13 billion shortfall in his docket.
“We don’t have resources to recruit JSS teachers on permanent terms and for the additional 20,000 that was reduced in the estimates, there is a shortfall of about Ksh13 billion,” said Mbadi.
He observed that the hiring was impossible unless a budget adjustment was made, which he described as a challenging task.
“There is no money availed for conversions unless we do budget adjustments which we really don’t have space for. This year has been challenging,” he said.
“We really had to look around and see how we can raise the money we made available for teachers for their salary adjustments,” Mbadi added.
His comments follow the announcement by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET) that the nationwide teachers’ strike set to begin on Monday, August 26, was still on after failed talks between them and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on Wednesday.
The teachers are calling for the immediate hiring of 26,000 new JSS teachers, the prompt processing of all third-party deductions, employment of 20,000 new teachers, promotion of 130,000 stagnated teachers in various job grades, and immediate disbursement of overdue funds for teachers’ medical scheme.
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On Friday, August 16, President William Ruto instructed the Treasury and TSC to start discussions with teachers’ and lecturers’ unions, which had issued strike notices, to prevent industrial action.
“The Treasury, TSC and the teaching fraternity should sit together and look at the possibility of ensuring that we implement our commitment as government and thus avoid unnecessary industrial action and interruption in our learning institutions,” Ruto stated.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) met with teachers’ unions on Wednesday, August 21 where it announced that it had secured funding for the second phase of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
While KNUT and KUPPET both acknowledged the implementation of the CBA, the unions said that they were dissatisfied, stating that TSC had been evasive of other demands made by the unions.
By Frank Mugwe
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