The Parliament yesterday directed the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to reinstate 130,000 teachers removed from the teachers’ union register by end of August 2020.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), appeared before the Parliament’s Education Committee yesterday, the KNUT told MPs how the teachers’ employer hatched an elaborate plot to strip it of its members, crippling its operations and putting the union on its death bed. He said TSC designed, printed and directly delivered forms to schools and compelled teachers to exit the union.
“TSC manually removed our members from the union without authority. This is happening now in the payroll of August,” said Mr Otieno.
The union’s deputy secretary general Hesbon Otieno told MPs that with more than 700 staff across 110 branches, the diminished numbers had made it difficult to sustain its operations.
If implemented, the order to reinstate members is expected to give Knut its past numerical and financial muscle.
At the moment, Knut has about 50,000 members raking in Sh49 million, down from Sh130 million when its membership was 180,000 in June last year.
However, the TSC said yesterday’s meeting did not issue any orders but only proposed ways to end a standoff between the union and Knut.
“There has been a narrative that TSC removed members from Knut to benefit rival union and that is not true. If teachers left any union they did so on their own based on a court ruling that worked against them,” said Beatrice Wababu, TSC Head of Corporate Affairs.
On the other hand, TSC (CEO) Nancy Macharia, told MPs the commission was audited by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission and cleared of the double payroll allegations.
In their resolutions, MPs also asked TSC and Knut to withdraw the numerous pending cases in court to pave the way for talks to restore industrial harmony.
In her presentation to the MPs, the TSC boss listed five matters pending before court, four of them lodged by Knut.
The MPs pleaded with both parties to withdraw the cases. “I have spoken with Knut and they are willing to drop all the cases for the sake of peaceful industrial relations. I request TSC to also consider doing the same,” said the committee’s chair Florence Mutua. The MPs also proposed a sub-committee to reconcile the TSC and Knut.
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