President William Ruto has ordered the Treasury to urgently open negotiations with teachers and lecturers unions to forestall any possible strikes within the education sector.
The aim of the directive is to make sure that concerns that have been raised through strike notices are addressed.
The President told the Treasury, Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) to meet and iron out pending issues that have led to issuing of strike notices.
KNUT and KUPPET have issued strike notices as demands for the implementation of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement, while UASU has threatened a work boycott over delayed salaries.
“Treasury, TSC and teaching fraternity should sit together and look at the possibility of ensuring we implement our commitment as government and hence avoid any kind of industrial action and interruption in our learning institutions,” President Ruto said.
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The President gave the directive during the State Concert for the Kenya Music Festival that went down at Eldoret State Lodge on Friday.
Among those present in the function were Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Bii, Cabinet Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, MPs, and others.
President Ruto’s directive came just a few days after the government, under the auspice of Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu, held an emergency meeting with the leadership of the KNUT to forestall a looming nationwide teachers’ strike.
The meeting between Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection Alfred Mutua and top Knut officials on Tuesday comes as the third school term draws closer, with teachers threatening not to report to work over unmet promises in the government’s 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Tensions have been rising, with KNUT Secretary-General Collins Oyuu declaring Monday that teachers will not resume duty when schools open next week if the Government does not address their concerns.
At the center of the row is the second phase of the CBA that offered to raise teachers’ salaries by 7 per cent to 9 per cent, yet it has not been implemented.
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