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"speaker_name": "Mr. Koech",
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"legal_name": "David Kibet Koech",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. Allow me first to sincerely thank my colleague hon. Member for Migori, Mr. John Pesa, for bringing this Motion. This Motion is urging the Government to pay retired teachers. These are Kenyans who have served this Government diligently. I want to repeat, diligently. This is because it is very rare to find an individual serving for up to 31 or 35 years. Therefore, we are talking of people who started working a long time ago. We are talking of people who have made the country what it is today. Who is who in Kenya today must have gone through teachers. Apart from the very elderly in this House, the majority of us went through the hands of these teachers. Whatever we are enjoying today, whether you are the Head of State, the Prime Minister, Minister, Member of Parliament, Controller of Budget or the Attorney-General, all of you are in your positions courtesy of these teachers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, many professionals who are moving this country forward went through these teachers either directly or indirectly. It is unfortunate then to see the Government setting aside only Kshs3.34 billion to be given to these people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that money is already allocated; it is there in the Treasury and what are we being told? For the last one year because we are hardly three weeks to the end of the financial year, that the Controller of Budget is awaiting the opinion of the Attorney-General of the Republic of Kenya. The Attorney-General is a Kenyan and he went through school in Kenya. The Controller of Budget went through school in Kenya. All of us in this House went through school in our country and, therefore, I want to urge my colleagues that all of us unanimously pass this Motion and we expect the Government to act immediately and release this money before the end of this financial year which is hardly three weeks to the end. We must, as we release this money, make sure that the teaching profession is made attractive and protected as such for the benefit of this country. If you want to fight poverty in this nation and move this country forward, we must ensure that the teacher is motivated. We must make sure that the teaching profession is made more attractive. This is what South Koreans have done so that today they are what they are because they have made this profession one of the best. We must ensure that we do not allow teachers to carry out demonstrations. For those of us who have the background of teaching, there is what we call hidden curriculum that our children learn from observation and seeing. The more the teachers demonstrate, the more the students learn the negative part of what we do not expect them to learn and, therefore, you will be seeing many more demonstrations in future because children think that if a teacher has demonstrated, then who are they not to do so? So, we should be in a country where we provide what is needed and necessary on time to avert this kind of crisis. Looking at the money that was awarded to the teachers, they were awarded Kshs17.6 billion. In the last financial year, the Ministry of Finance has allocated them Kshs3.34 billion and we are saying that this money should be released immediately. In the Printed Estimates that we are going through today, the said Ministry again has provided another Kshs3.3 billion meaning that if the Ministry of Finance continues providing in bits, it will take another five to six years for these teachers to enjoy the full privilege of this one. So, the gratuity, the lump sum that they are supposed to get is being delayed and so is the pension and monthly payment. Most of these teachers, for the information of the House, are getting Kshs6,000 every month. Once this is fully implemented, it might give them over Kshs10,000 which can make them stay comfortably wherever they are. So I now want to urge the Government to ensure that come next year, let us provide for the lump sum that is balanced so that we deal with this case once and for all. I want to thank the teachers of the Republic of Kenya for the good work they are doing. We want to urge them to even do much better. I want to urge the Government to commit itself to all the proposals that they have made. Under Vision 2030, the Government has indicated, in black and white, that they will be employing 28,000 teachers every year to take care of the shortage. In this financial year, what have they provided for? They have provided for 10,000. Where is the 18,000 committed by the Government? Is this Government committed to ensuring that the child of the poor also enjoys the benefits of education so that in future we see the son of a peasant dining with the son of a king in this country? It is only through education that we can bridge this gap. With those remarks, I want to fully support this Motion."
}