Teachers Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia at a past event. She
appeared before the Senate Committee on Education but declined to
disclose when they will complete the audit to ascertain membership of
teachers unions’. ANTHONY OMUYA (NAIROBI)
Teachers unions are putting on a brave face despite going
through financial crisis with some sending home workers at branch
offices until they get the resources to pay them.
The
crisis emerged after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) stopped the
deductions of monies due to unions until it’s done with what it
describes an ‘audit to ascertain membership of the unions’.
Several
executive officers for the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and
the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) admitted
that the situation is getting out of hand.Speaking to Sunday Nation on
condition of anonymity, the executive secretaries who manage branches
said the situation is not as rosy as their union leaders may wish to
portray.
And to complicate the matter, TSC chief
executive officer Nancy Macharia on Thursday when she appeared before
the Senate Committee on Education declined to disclose when they will
complete the audit.
“We have not been paid for the last
three months, we have rented offices and we fear that we may soon be
evicted,” said some the executive secretaries from both unions.
Knut
has about 110 branches across the country, while Kuppet has 47 and it
relies solely on membership fees to run its activities.
To
mitigate the crisis, Kuppet has now approached three banks and
co-operative societies to help deduct Sh35 million a month from as
membership fee from 34,000 teachers.
“We are set to
sign a memorandum of understanding with the financial institutions in a
week’s time to help us make the deductions,” said Kuppet chairman Omboko
Milemba.
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