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{
    "id": 383198,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/383198/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 247,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "demanding higher salaries now that Independence had come. It is the same thing that we seem to be seeing now; today it is the teachers, tomorrow it will be doctors and, the other day, the nurses. The country appears to be in a labour crisis. I think it is important for us to look at these crises on a more comprehensive basis because even after the teachers’ issues are resolved, you can expect there will be another group of workers coming out tomorrow and another group the day after tomorrow. Indeed, we should also look at the other supply side; you know, Parliamentarians are demanding money; Senators, County Assembly Members, the police, the army. These demands for money almost seem to be endless. The Government uses taxpayers’ money and yet taxes are not being increased. So, unless you manage in a very careful and prudent manner, we are likely to get into the cycles that one sees in the political instability of Latin American governments, where populist governments will come, they promise heaven and earth to people. They try to implement those promises and within five years, there is so much inflation in the country. Even the bail money you got cannot buy much and you do not solve the basic problem which was there. So, unless we address the labour issues in this country in a comprehensive manner, we are just going to put ourselves in that cycle of boom and burst; and that cycle of happiness and frustration, happiness and frustration in an endless manner. So, Madam Temporary Speaker, I am proposing that we do not talk down to teachers. Let us sit down with them across the table. Let us show them all the existing economic facts and then we will do what Tom Mboya did in 1963. Let us equalize the teachers to all the other civil servants so that the allowances that people in Job Group “K” get, let the teachers in Job Group “K” also get the same amount. If the teachers in Job Group “S” are earning certain allowances, let us look at what Government officers in Group “S” earn and then we should give them the same. The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) should treat all the public servants in this country equally because as Senators, our job is to equalize the Kenyans. Madam Temporary Speaker, if we address these issues in such a manner, then it will not be the teachers, the army and the nurses coming out tomorrow, because we will be dealing with civil servants across the board. Then we have a breathing space so that we know that if we solve all those issues this year, we have at least another three years within which to work. Then, if money loses value in future, we sit down again and review the salaries. So, my call is for tolerance. My call is for dialogue which is the spirit of the new Constitution so that we treat our teachers well, but also taking into account how much the economy can carry and how we are treating other civil servants. Madam Temporary Speaker. I beg to support."
}