Bungoma teachers vow to go on strike on July 1

Written by Saenyi Daniel Teachers from Bungoma have vowed to go on strike on July 1, if the government does not employ teachers currently on contract on a permanent basis. The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Bungoma branch has said that the teachers will comply with their leaders’ directions and go ahead with the strike if their demands are not met. The government had promised to employ 18,000 teachers before the end of the financial year 2011/2012 and there is still no hiring done, those who were employed on contract are still employed under contract and earning very little. Mr. Kennedy Nganga, the Executive secretary for KNUT in Bungoma District said that according to the rules governing workers (International Labor Organization) a person will only be employed on contract for six months and will be permanently employed on the seventh month. ``There are some teachers that have been employed on contract for more than seven months and are still not permanently employed. It seems the government is trying to change its game plan and not employ the extra teachers,” Said Mr. Nganga. According to Mr. Nganga, KNUT had only allowed TSC to employ teachers on contract because there were no enough teachers at the time and the country was in an economic crisis. “Right now the country’s economy has stabilized and it’s very much capable of employing more teachers, recently the MP’s have been added 20 per cent salary and we do not see why the teachers should not get employed permanently when clearly there is money,” Said Mr. Nganga. They have requested the minister for Finance Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta to recommend budgetary reallocations so that money is saved for teachers’ employment. They warned that if the MP’s will not adhere to these demands, they will not only strike but they will not vote for them come 2012 elections. The government is supposed to employ a further 10,000 teachers to achieve the target of 28,000 by 2012 as stipulated in Vision 2030. Mrs. Unita Kasila, a teacher and woman representative in Bungoma County said that the government should consider the teachers on contract before employing more teachers because it’s their rights they are fighting for. More than 250,000 teachers command significant influence especially at the grassroots. The union’s ultimatum on the employment when implemented would translate to a large number of students lagging behind in the syllabus and poor performance in the national examinations at the end of the year. The ministries of Finance, Education, the TSC and Knut had also agreed that retired teachers be paid their arrears in two installments; beginning on July 1, 2011 and the last instalment would be paid by July 1, 2012. The union says it would be forced to take industrial action if TSC does not react to this demand positively and nobody should blame it if the Government does not give in.