Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 383184,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/383184/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "God. The good book called the Bible tells us that even Pharaoh was asked to “let the children of Israel go.” I want to beg them to let the teachers have their way. Madam Temporary Speaker, who is a teacher in Kenya today? A Kenyan teacher is a very well educated professional, doing a noble service, but lives under deplorable housing conditions. I beg that we pay them housing allowance. Kenyan teachers cannot afford to take themselves, their children and wives to any decent private hospital, because of lack of affordability. I pray to the Government that they pay our teachers medical allowance. Kenyan teachers mark volumes upon volumes of homework from hundreds of children under their pupilage. I pray and beg the Government that we pay our teachers special responsibility allowance. Lastly, Kenyan teachers walk long distances, sometimes hundreds of miles, to go to where they teach. I pray and beg the Government that we pay our teachers commuter allowances to allow them either to ride a boda boda or buy a motorbike. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is important to request this leadership to appreciate what is going on. I will give them a brief insight of the history of this problem. In 1997, the Government of retired President Daniel Moi went into an agreement signed on behalf of the Moi Government by the former Permanent Secretary, Phares Kuindwa and the late John Katumanga for the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT). They did this in the presence of the leadership of the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU) and the Federation of Kenyan Employers (FKE). The gist of that agreement was that the teachers were requesting to be granted a 105 per cent to 200 per cent increment on their basic salary. They were given. They also wanted a 50 per cent increment in their housing allowance, 20 per cent increment on their medical allowance - of the basic salary - responsibility allowance of 45 per cent, special allowance of 10 per cent, hardship allowance of 30 per cent and commuter allowance of 10 per cent. Madam Temporary Speaker, we must give credit to President Moi at that time. He went on and allowed this to be given the force of law. This agreement which basically was a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was then given the force of law through the Legal Notice No.534 of 1997. Indeed, the Government went further and honoured part of that legal agreement by operationalizing the provision on basic salary. Having operationalized part of the Legal Notice and left out the other side that was referring to the allowances, time has now come, now that we have got a Kshs1.6 trillion Budget, for us to pay teachers. When this operationalization was being done at that time – and the President has told the Republic that he wants us to grow the economy before they pay – we were collecting around Kshs180 billion. Today, we collect over Kshs920 billion. This is really the time for us to pay our teachers. Madam Temporary Speaker, because of that initial operationalization, the Government is, therefore, under legal requirement and obligation to make sure that they honour the part on allowances. Why do I emphasize this? It is because, traditionally, anywhere in the world, in any democracy that is worth its name, it is understood that the obligation of a particular government that precedes a succeeding government, are then transferred to the succeeding government. It is, therefore, the obligation of the Jubilee The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}