TSC to remove striking teachers from payroll on Friday

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) now says teachers who continue with the illegal strike will not get any pay despite calls by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) for the teachers to stay put.

TSC announced that all teachers who will not have resumed duty by Friday will be considered as having deserted duty and will therefore be struck off the TSC payroll.

TSC boss Lydia Nzomo ruled that payroll will be closed by September 18^th and those who will not have gone back to school by then will be removed completely.

The pronouncement comes a day after KNUT and KUPPET ruled out any possibilities of resuming duty without pay.

Speaking in a press briefing on Sunday, KNUT Chairman Mudzo Nzili and Secretary General Wilson Sossion said the two week strike has only been a warm up to the main protest that is about to start.

The union chiefs said it is within their constitutional right, Under Article 41 of the Constitution, to go on strike saying these rights are non-negotiable.

“The Judiciary’s authority is derived from the people and everyone must therefore adhere to court rulings,” said Nzili.

“The strike is about defending the Constitution. Teachers will not be intimidated by warning letters from the Teachers Service Commission,” said Sossion.

In his speech in Mumias on Sunday, Deputy President William Ruto supported President Uhuru Kenyatta’s earlier remark that the government has no money to pay teachers.

Ruto called on teachers to return to work saying the recommendations by Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and Salaries and Remunerations Commissions (SRC) that increasing their salaries will be detrimental to the country’s economy should be adhered to.