The Secretary General of Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Wilson Sossion has accused the government of being conveniently broke.
In an interview on Citizen TV, Sossion claimed that the government was having contingency finances for many questionable bail outs but has never had money to increase the teachers' salary.
The Secretary General referred to the recent Kenya Airways bailout where the government gave the company Sh4.2 Billion early this year and is set to give the airline another Sh60 Billion bail out under certain terms and conditions.
Mr. Sossion stated that the 1.4 Billion budgetary allocation for the Anglo leasing debt is another evidence that the government has money that it does not want to give to the teachers.
According to the Secretary General, the government should have put teachers' contingency finances in the 2015-2016 budget because the court process began in January 2015.
He even claimed that the government had enough time to take into consideration the possibility of having to pay teachers after the ruling was made.
“Now that the ruling has been given, the remedy of the budget process does not lie with us, but it is liability of the government,” he said.
Teachers await their fate as KNUT goes to court this afternoon to fight against Teachers Service Commission (TSC) who are blocking their legally awarded pay rise.
Despite the government's order requiring teachers to report to work, the two unions - KNUT and KUPPET - have adamantly asked teachers not to go back to class.
Last week's court ruling by the Supreme Court that awarded teachers a 50-60 percent pay increase, was the closest they got to winning a fight that has been going on for over a decade.
Video Courtesy of Citizen TV
[video:]
