Knut and Kuppet hit by cash crisis

Teachers Service Commission CEO Nancy Macharia

Operations in offices of two teachers' unions have ground to a halt, as a cash crunch bites.

Activities at the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) have reportedly been crippled as the unions await millions of Shillings from the Government.

Employees of the unions are yet to receive their March salaries. It emerged that Knut, which receives Sh135 million from Teachers Service Commission (TSC), is considering closing some of its branches.

Kuppet officials said they are yet to receive Sh40 million and threatened to storm TSC offices to demand its release. "We have offices across the country with rent not paid, salaries not paid and bank loans not paid," said Kuppet Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima.

TSC collects and remits union dues to the two unions every month. 

Commission Chief Executive Officer Nancy Macharia did not respond to the claim.

But sources told The Standard the money was yet to be released. Reasons for the delay were not cited.

Immediate release

A letter by Knut lawyers to TSC indicates that the initial reasons fronted by the employer was that the IFMIS system was down and that Treasury had not released the money.

The letter dated March 13, says that Knut can no longer remit third party deductions including taxes. "We write to demand immediate release of the union dues, as provided for in law, and in any event within 24 hours failure to which we shall seen legal redress," reads the letter by Hillary Sigei.

The fight over union dues comes as Knut leadership registered a trade dispute with the teachers’ employer, calling for withdrawal of the two key performance appraisal tools.

The union also wants delocalisation of teachers stopped.