PH
Deputy President William Ruto says that teachers will be paid their dues in line with a recent Supreme Court ruling handing them a 50-60% pay increase.
Ruto said Friday morning in a radio talk show that the fact that the government was opposed to the increase was not to deny teachers their pay but in liner with the country’s budget.
He added that the Teachers Service Commission and the Ministry of Education would now liaise to ensure that the matter is resolved in an amicable manner.
” We have asked the concerned ministry to liaise with Teachers Service Commission to resolve this issue, “he said.
” However, it is not easy because the impact of slashing a budget from a Ministry or department has to be assessed and we are forced to do so,” he added.
He also motioned that Parliament would have to re-look the budget in-order to ensure the required funds are found.
” Parliament will have to re-look at the budget so that it can be able to fund the teachers pay”, he continued.
He also lamented the fact that it was felt that the government had not done enough to look out for teachers.
” Last year we met the teachers’ unions. We increased funding to employ more teachers. We resolved all issues of allowances. We have done our best,” he added.
It is estimated that the government will have to fork out an extra KES 150 billion to fund the teachers pay rise, something that has left the government with a huge budget deficit to cover.
At the time of the budget reading, the government had a deficit of KES 520 billion, which means pressure will be put directly on revenue collection and in turn the Kenya Revenue Authority KRA to eek out more in taxes.
