Knut threatens to move to ILO over North Eastern teachers' standoff

The tussle between The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on North Eastern teachers has taken a new twist with KNUT warning to move to International Labour Centre. KNUT has indicated this in a press release sent to media houses.

“The teachers are ready to take this matter further to International Labour Centre for possible recourse if the TSC continues to intimidate and address labour issues through the media …” Read the statement.
KNUT secretary general Wilson Sossion said that instead of TSC looking for solutions to the teachers’ plight, it has resorted to intimidating them.

Sossion said that is not wise for TSC to cling to right to education for children stipulated under Article 53 of the Constitution without minding the teachers’ right to life. Mr. Sossion added that they will not relent in their bid of fighting for the rights of teachers.
“The affected teachers have sworn not to risk their lives but instead are ready to face the consequences. It is about their lives not their jobs. It is about their wish to see tomorrow alive not to earn.” The statement read in part.

KNUT acknowledged the right of children to education but advanced the need for security of teachers and their families in the North Eastern region.

“In as much as we appreciate and feel heart within our hearts, the plight of the children and their education, we also pause for a moment and share the grief, the emotional torture and life uncertainties these teachers and their families go through. It is time we fairly balance these compelling interests.” Read the statement

KNUT has urged the government to fully integrate the affected teachers in whatever action they have taken to ensure the security of the teachers.
This comes as leaders from North Eastern region led by Majority Leader in the National Assembly, Aden Duale intensified their call for sacking of teachers who have refused to get back to work in the region. In a function attended by the Deputy President William Ruto, Duale said he saw no reason for teachers to boycott working in that region yet there were over 500 non-Muslims civil servants already working in Garissa.

KNUT Bomet branch rebukes DP and Duale over sentiments

Meanwhile KNUT Bomet branch has condemned Aden Duale for what they termed as insulting the union’s national secretary general, Mr. Wilson Sossion. Addressing the media at the union’s offices in Boment, the branch’s executive secretary Joseph Malel Langat expressed their discontent with the sentiments made by the deputy president William Ruto and Aden Duale at a function in Mandera. Ruto had urged teachers who had declined to resume work to get back since the government was already taking the necessary security measures. Duale had rebuked Sossion for being puppet and unreasonable.
“I want to tell Sossion that he is no longer a leader but a puppet. I don’t see the reason why some teachers should not report to their places of work and yet over 500 non-Muslim teachers were busy in classes in Garissa County,” Duale said.

Malel vowed that if the deputy president does not come up with a better solution, they will withdraw their support for URP. The assistant executive secretary Paul Nyolei called upon the president to look into the issue so as to attain sanity.

‘’ We request President Uhuru Kenyatta who has come out to be respectful and concerned on teachers welfare to look into the plea of teachers and authorize TSC to instead employ taechers who are from that region,” Paul Nyolei said