Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has suspended planned countrywide demonstrations after the government yielded to an outcry from teachers.
On September 16, Babu Owino confirmed that teachers hired by various school management boards had started receiving their payments of Ksh 10,000 a month.
"I want to take this opportunity to congratulate BoM Teachers for receiving money and warn the government to act with speed next time and pay teachers on time. My regret is that the demonstrations will not take place tomorrow as planned," he tweeted.
The teachers had gone without salaries since March and complained that the Ministry of Education was delaying their pay.
The MP has been a strong advocate of their grievances, threatening a 17-hour protest to be held across the country on September 17.
"We know well that education is an equaliser and a powerful tool that can be used to change the whole world.
"The president agreed that BoM teachers should be paid and we don't know where the delay is coming from," the MP stated in a press conference on September 11.
Babu added that the nationwide protests would have been "the mother and father of all demos" blocking all major roads across the country.
Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda, a member of KYPA, had also joined the push to pay the teachers.
"The latest information is that the list of BoM teachers has been verified and 43,000 are due to be paid. The funds have already been cleared for release.
“It is more than a month since the president ordered these teachers to be paid. It’s really unfortunate that to date no tangible excuse can be given as to why they have not yet been paid,” said Lesuuda.
