Elimu Bora group condemns KEWOTA deductions, demands probe

KEWOTA CEO Benta Opande at a past event.[File, Standard]

The Elimu Bora Working Group has condemned salary deductions appearing on teachers’ payslips linked to the Kenya Women Teachers Association (KEWOTA), terming them unlawful and calling for an immediate stop and compensation.

Speaking on Thursday, members of the group said the deductions point to a coordinated scheme that undermines labour rights, weakens legitimate teachers’ unions, and enables financial impropriety under the oversight of state institutions.

They further claimed KEWOTA was irregularly formed and operationalised, arguing that its establishment did not follow proper legal and regulatory procedures.

David Karani, a member of the group, said KEWOTA’s emergence should be viewed in the context of efforts to weaken established teachers’ unions such as the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET).

He alleged that the fragmentation of union influence created space for parallel structures through which teachers’ salaries were accessed with limited scrutiny.

“This was conceived at the highest levels of government to cut unions to size while creating avenues for extraction. Teachers across the country have, for years, raised concerns about unexplained and irregular deductions from their payslips, concerns that have consistently reached TSC and the Presidency. The persistence of these deductions by KEWOTA pointed to institutional knowledge, if not complicity,” Karani said.

He added that under Kenyan law, the authority to deduct teachers’ salaries lies solely with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), operating within a defined legal framework and approvals from relevant government bodies.

Karani maintained that KEWOTA has no legal mandate to initiate or process such deductions.

“Section 19(f) of the Employment Act strictly limits the circumstances under which an employer may deduct an employee’s wages, including a collective bargaining agreement, a court order, or an arbitration award. The same applies to deductions remitted to trade unions, as provided for in Section 48 of the Labour Relations Act, which requires that deductions be grounded in law. None of these conditions applies to KEWOTA,” he said.

Carel Omwonyo, also a member of the group, said the deductions do not amount to legitimate union dues, adding that teachers did not voluntarily join or consent to them.

He further alleged that the KEWOTA scheme bears hallmarks of organised corruption and elite capture.

“Credible reports by The Standard Media Group indicate that the outfit has been effectively controlled by a small network of individuals, with links to powerful political and bureaucratic actors. The amounts involved, at least Sh228 million annually and potentially billions over time, show the scale of the heist and the level of impunity with which it has been executed,” Omwonyo said.

He added that the alleged scheme is eroding trust in public institutions and diverting resources from the education sector.

The group called for the immediate suspension of all KEWOTA-related deductions and a full audit of all third-party deductions from teachers’ salaries over the past five years.

They also want the Ministry of Education to disclose KEWOTA’s legal status and any approvals or correspondence authorising its operations.

In addition, they urged the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the formation and financing of KEWOTA, and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to pursue criminal accountability where fraud or abuse of office is established.

They further called on Parliamentary Committees on Education and Labour to launch a public inquiry into union weakening and irregular entities in the sector.