John Mbadi
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi now says the government does not have enough money to employ 20,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers on permanent terms.
Speaking on Thursday night while appearing on Citizen TV, Mbadi said there is a shortfall of Ksh.13 billion.
“We don’t have resources to recruit JSS teachers on permanent and for the additional 20,000 that was reduced in the estimates. There is a shortfall of about Ksh.13 billion,” said Mbadi.
He noted that there is no money to be availed for the employment of the JSS teachers unless a budget adjustment is done which is a difficult move to do.
“There is no money availed for conversions unless we do budget adjustments which we really don’t have space for. This year has been challenging.
“We really had to look around and see how we can raise the money we made available for teachers for their salary adjustments,” Mbadi added.
His remarks come after Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET announced a nationwide teachers strike beginning on Monday August 26, 2024.
The teachers are demanding for the immediate recruitment of 20,000 new JSS teachers, prompt remittance of all third-party deductions and a commitment to begin discussions on the new round of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
On Friday last week, President William Ruto directed the Treasury and TSC to initiate talks with teachers and lecturers’ unions and avert industrial action in the education sector.
The Head of State directed that a meeting be convened for KNUT, KUPPET and the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) to iron out pending issues that have led to the issuance of strike notices.
“The Treasury, TSC and the teaching fraternity should sit together and look at the possibility of ensuring that we implement our commitment as government and thus avoid unnecessary industrial action and interruption in our learning institutions,” Ruto stated.
