AG to hasten Sh17bn pay for ex-teachers

Attorney General Githu Muigai. Photo/FILE 

By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Githu says state has set aside money in current budget for payment of the pension dues

The Attorney-General has stepped in to ensure that a group of retired teachers are paid their long-awaited Sh17 billion pension.

Prof Githu Muigai told the ex-teachers he would facilitate a meeting with Finance minister Njeru Githae next week to ensure the matter was resolved soon.

“The State Law Office has considered the import of the decision of the High Court and that the government was duty-bound to comply with the court order and pay up the teachers’ pension dues,” said Prof Muigai.

“I have advised that the Director of Pensions, Controller of Budget and the permanent secretary, the Ministry of Finance must pay the teachers,” Prof Muigai said after meeting representatives of the retired teachers.

The group was following up on their pension dues awarded to them by the High Court in Nakuru. They told the AG that they had been misled into thinking that his office was the stumbling block in the payment of their dues.

But Prof Muigai promised to expedite the process, saying the government was committed to sorting out the issue since it had included these dues in the current budget.

The retired teachers were awarded Sh17 billion after their employer, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), told the High Court in Nakuru that it was willing to pay the money early this year.

The group sued TSC in 2006 claiming unpaid lumpsum salary increments and accrued pension from July 1997. They had moved to court seeking permission to commence a judicial review to compel TSC to pay them Sh17 billion as part of their pension dues.

In their application, the former teachers asked the court to grant them leave to file a review to command the commission to pay part of the unpaid pension up to 2003 plus costs taxed, which stand at Sh382.6 million.

They also wanted the court to order TSC to pay legal fees to their lawyer, Mr Dominic Mukui Kimatta.

The High Court ordered TSC and the Director of Pensions in the Ministry of Finance to pay the pensions backdated to 1997.

The respondent was also ordered to liaise with the Director of Pensions to review the former teachers’ current pension to reflect the new rates.

The teachers won the case before Mr David Maraga of the High Court in Nakuru.

The judge ruled that all retired teachers covered by the agreement between TSC and the Kenya National Union of Teachers were entitled to their retirement benefits.