Supreme Court to rule on disputed Kenya teachers' pay rise on August 24

The Supreme Court will on August 24 issue a ruling on the contested teachers' pay rise.

Justices Willy Mutunga, Kalpana Rawal, Mohamed Ibrahim, Jackton Ojwang and Smokin Wanjala yesterday heard submissions from lawyers representing unions and the State.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) lawyers argued that the judges should uphold the verdicts of the High Court and Court of Appeal that have decreed that their members receive the 50-60 per cent pay rise.

But lawyers representing the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), Salaries and Remuneration Commission and the Attorney General argued against the salary award, citing the soaring public wage bill.

Both sides of the divide had hired top legal minds to argue their case.

KNUT and KUPPET were represented by lawyers Paul Muite, Kioko Kilukumi, John Mbaluto and Judith Guserwa while TSC was represented by Fred Ngatia, Issa Mansur and Allan Sitima.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission had lawyer Paul Nyamodi while Attorney General Githu Muigai was represented by State Counsel Wanjiku Mbiyu.

The lawyers for TSC, SRC and the AG tore into the judgement and the ruling issued by the lower courts for one hour as teachers who had filled the room listened.

Teachers boo

At one point, it got too unbearable that they booed, only to be reminded that the court was in session. The bitter point driven home was that they had to wait for the final determination of the court.

"TSC does not generate funds. The money that is paid as salaries emanates from the Treasury and there is none for it now. We have a live problem which is Sh73 billion for pay before the appeal is heard. Every aspect of the republic has to be stopped for the teachers to be paid," Mr Ngatia submitted.

He further argued that the Labour Court erred in law by setting the salaries.

Ngatia narrated that the case before the court was initially a dispute sparked by strike but instead of adjudicating the case as filed, the judge converted the same into an economic dispute.

"TSC filed the case but it was penalised instead. Where public funds are involved, the court has the noble role of protecting the public interest," he argued.

But Mr Muite argued that the court awarded the 50-60 proposal which had initially been tabled in the botched collective bargaining agreement.

The lawyer said TSC was only required to pay its employees until the case in the Court of Appeal was determined.

The court heard that the State could not claim that it had no money as the Treasury was aware of the negotiations that culminated to the award.

"It is indicative of this bad faith that while the applicant has couched the said application as ostensibly raising various constitutional issues, nowhere in the said application does the applicant acknowledge the basic and simple constitutional right to fair remuneration owed to Kenyan teachers," the lawyer said.