Kenyan Teachers Suspend Strike After Order
BY JOHN AGLIONBY
OCTOBER 05 2015, 06:00
TEACHERS in the public sector of Kenya ended a five-week long strike at the weekend that had pitted President Uhuru Kenyatta against the judiciary, exposing the fragility of government finances and sparking popular discontent over perceived inequality.
The Daily Nation reported on Sunday that teachers would resume teaching this week, to the relief of millions of students, pupils and their parents. The unions were ordered by a court to end the strike. However, the confrontation between the government and the unions may not be over as union officials harshly criticised the back-to-work court order as unjust and unfair.
The unions said they had only suspended the strike for 90 days as directed by the court, but that they would resume it if their pay increase was not implemented.
The walkout began after the government refused to obey a court ruling that ordered a pay rise of 50%-60% for teachers.
The order came after the government failed to pay promised salary increases in recent years. Part of Kenyatta’s argument for defying the courts is that the pay rise was not allocated in the budget for this year.
Kenyatta said earlier this year the government could not afford "one more penny" for the teachers.
This financial year, the pay rise — totalling 17-billion Kenyan shillings (R2.2bn) — would account for less than 1% of government spending, according to Kwame Owino, CEO of Kenya’s Institute of Economic Affairs.
In some respects Kenya’s economy is relatively healthy. Economic growth was 4.9% in the three months to June on an annualised basis.
But performance is thought to have slowed in recent months, and public sector debt has risen to about 50% of gross domestic product. It is likely to increase further if, as expected, the Kenyan shilling continues to weaken against the dollar.
The currency has already fallen 14% this year.
The balance of payments, fell from a surplus of 8.8-billion Kenyan shillings in the first quarter of last year to a deficit of 14.3-billion Kenyan shillings in the three months to June this year, although some of this can be attributed to imports of heavy equipment for major infrastructure projects.
"The president is probably 60% to 70% correct when he says the government cannot afford the pay rise," says Owino. Against that claim has to be balanced what Owino calls "wastage" — a euphemism for corruption.
In July the independent auditor-general fully approved only 26% of the government’s spending and revenue collection; and in last year’s Transparency International global corruption perception index, Kenya came 143rd out of 174 countries.
As the strike grinds on, there are signs of nascent social discontent.
Public transport businesses have warned that their earnings have taken a significant hit as a result of 300,000 striking teachers and millions of children staying at home.
Meanwhile, the media are highlighting the twenty-fold disparity between the salaries of junior teachers and the country’s MPs. The average monthly take-home salary of a teacher is about 40,000 Kenyan shillings (R5,265).
Some MPs and analysts believe MPs’ pay should be cut to help fund the teachers’ pay rise.
As the strike continues, the fallout is becoming increasingly political, with the opposition launching impeachment proceedings against Kenyatta and holding their largest rally in the capital for more than a year. Nonetheless, few believe the threat to the president is serious, considering his commanding majority in parliament. "The strike is definitely serious for the government, but I don’t think it’s sufficiently serious to pull the opposition together," says Prof Macharia Munene of US International University in Nairobi.
OCTOBER 05 2015, 06:00
TEACHERS in the public sector of Kenya ended a five-week long strike at the weekend that had pitted President Uhuru Kenyatta against the judiciary, exposing the fragility of government finances and sparking popular discontent over perceived inequality.
The Daily Nation reported on Sunday that teachers would resume teaching this week, to the relief of millions of students, pupils and their parents. The unions were ordered by a court to end the strike. However, the confrontation between the government and the unions may not be over as union officials harshly criticised the back-to-work court order as unjust and unfair.
The unions said they had only suspended the strike for 90 days as directed by the court, but that they would resume it if their pay increase was not implemented.
The walkout began after the government refused to obey a court ruling that ordered a pay rise of 50%-60% for teachers.
The order came after the government failed to pay promised salary increases in recent years. Part of Kenyatta’s argument for defying the courts is that the pay rise was not allocated in the budget for this year.
Kenyatta said earlier this year the government could not afford "one more penny" for the teachers.
This financial year, the pay rise — totalling 17-billion Kenyan shillings (R2.2bn) — would account for less than 1% of government spending, according to Kwame Owino, CEO of Kenya’s Institute of Economic Affairs.
In some respects Kenya’s economy is relatively healthy. Economic growth was 4.9% in the three months to June on an annualised basis.
But performance is thought to have slowed in recent months, and public sector debt has risen to about 50% of gross domestic product. It is likely to increase further if, as expected, the Kenyan shilling continues to weaken against the dollar.
The currency has already fallen 14% this year.
The balance of payments, fell from a surplus of 8.8-billion Kenyan shillings in the first quarter of last year to a deficit of 14.3-billion Kenyan shillings in the three months to June this year, although some of this can be attributed to imports of heavy equipment for major infrastructure projects.
"The president is probably 60% to 70% correct when he says the government cannot afford the pay rise," says Owino. Against that claim has to be balanced what Owino calls "wastage" — a euphemism for corruption.
In July the independent auditor-general fully approved only 26% of the government’s spending and revenue collection; and in last year’s Transparency International global corruption perception index, Kenya came 143rd out of 174 countries.
As the strike grinds on, there are signs of nascent social discontent.
Public transport businesses have warned that their earnings have taken a significant hit as a result of 300,000 striking teachers and millions of children staying at home.
Meanwhile, the media are highlighting the twenty-fold disparity between the salaries of junior teachers and the country’s MPs. The average monthly take-home salary of a teacher is about 40,000 Kenyan shillings (R5,265).
Some MPs and analysts believe MPs’ pay should be cut to help fund the teachers’ pay rise.
As the strike continues, the fallout is becoming increasingly political, with the opposition launching impeachment proceedings against Kenyatta and holding their largest rally in the capital for more than a year. Nonetheless, few believe the threat to the president is serious, considering his commanding majority in parliament. "The strike is definitely serious for the government, but I don’t think it’s sufficiently serious to pull the opposition together," says Prof Macharia Munene of US International University in Nairobi.
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