6 KUPPET Officials Miss Salary For Opposing TPD.
Six top branch officials of a teachers’ union have been denied salary as a result of a major squabble with the national office over the controversial Teachers Professional Development (TPD) training program.
The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) branch executive secretaries told the Nation that they have not received their salaries for two months after writing to the national office in September saying their branches would not support the TPD introduced by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for retooling teachers.
Mr Sabala Inyeni (Vihiga), Mr William Lengoyiap (Samburu), Mr Shadrack Mutungi (Taita Taveta), Mr Samuel Jasolo (Migori), Mr Robert Miano (Laikipia), and Mr Zachary Nyamboi are among those affected (Baringo).
They characterized their union’s action as intimidation in order to keep them from speaking out against the TPD and demanded that they be reinstated on the payroll.
They stated that they would raise their plight at the 22nd annual general conference, which will be held in Eldoret this weekend.
Teachers must complete six training modules (one every five years) or their teaching licenses will not be renewed. The training is set to begin after school is out next week.
Although the Kuppet national office supports the TPD modules, some of its members across the country have expressed concerns about the plan.
The training will be provided by Mt Kenya University, Riara University, Kenyatta University, and the Kenya Education Management Institute at a cost of Sh6,000 per module for teachers.
“The position we took on TPD training modules was in line with concerns raised by our members. After listening to them, we wrote to the national office informing it about the branch position and that is what we are standing by,” said Mr Jasolo.
Kuppet Secretary-General Akello Misori dismissed the branch officials’ claims that they had not been paid.
According to Mr Inyeni, the head office has also reduced revenue allocation to their branches. Each branch receives 65% of the union dues deducted from the salaries of teachers in its jurisdiction.
“All we want is for TSC to pay the Sh6,000 (for training) for the teachers and not force our members to pay from their salaries. For this, we are being victimised and it is time teachers changed our national office that is highly compromised by TSC,” Mr Inyeni said.
Mr Lengoyiap stated that his branch received only Sh26,000, which is insufficient for office operations and staff salaries.
“They (national union officials) wrote to me. The secretary-general said I did not follow some union laws. Now we have not received salaries since October. When we ask, they tell us to take from branch allocations yet this is not salary,” Mr Mutungi said.
Mr Inyeni stated that officials had information that the procurement process favoured the four institutions and that the planned retraining will cost up to Sh2 billion.
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He added that they have information that there was collusion in the selection of the universities calling on DCI and EACC to look into the matter.
“TSC has 300,000 teachers on its payroll and the plan is keen on netting in money from the cash-strapped employees.”
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