By BENSON WEMA
THE delay in salaries for teachers nationwide has prompted the offices of the education minister and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) to issue statements explaining the reasons behind the delay.
Education Minister Hon Lucas Dekena said the delay in payment was to ensure that no teacher is omitted from receiving their salary.
Education Minister Hon Lucas Dekena stated: “The delay in payment was to ensure that no teacher is left out of this payment and that the verification process is carried out thoroughly.”
Minister Dekena added that the recent Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed last year, on the Determination of Salaries and Allowances in the Teaching Service for 2023-2025 will ensure that all teaching staff across the country have their salaries captured in this agreement for this year.
Speaking at a press conference, Chairman of TSC Samson Wangihomie and TSC Commissioner of Operations Maini Mike Ugaia explained the reasons for the pay delay.
“We signed a memorandum of agreement on December 14, 2023. By the time we signed the agreement, the national budget for 2024 had already been passed. So, we signed, but there was no money budgeted for this particular exercise,” Mr. Wangihomie explained.
He added that the agreement was introduced to renew and replace the 2017-2019 MoA between the TSC and the Union of Teachers’ Salaries.
Mr. Wangihomie announced that teachers would receive their salaries in Pay 14, which is the next upcoming fortnight. Teachers can expect a 3 percent salary increment and a 15 percent allowance based on their annual salary once they receive their payments next fortnight.
Furthermore, there are currently 60,000 teachers on the payroll. Wangihomie confirmed that there are still more teachers to be captured, and the total should increase to 70,000.