This archive report was first published on 10 November 2019.
Kenya's industrial relations are set for a major shake-up as the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) engage in a bitter dispute over the recognition agreement.
On November 4, 2019, TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia gave Knut a two-month notice before terminating the recognition agreement the two parties signed in 1968. The move has sparked a heated debate, with Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion drafting an amendment bill to change the make-up of the commission.
The draft bill proposes changes to the Teachers Service Act of 2012, which established the TSC in accordance with the 2010 Constitution. It seeks to delete sections of the principal Act that provide for the appointment of the chairperson and eight other members of the commission, instead recommending that the commissioners be elected by members of registered and recognised teachers' unions.
“TSC is supposed to be an independent constitutional commission but the teachers have no say. Where is the independence? The initial objective of independent commissions was to create autonomy. We need to have a chair and a commission that defends the interests of the teachers,” Mr Sossion told the Sunday Nation.
Mr Sossion will need to rally the support of fellow members of Parliament to see the bill through to law. The amendment bill he has drafted deletes the words “appointed” in Section 6 of the principal Act and replaces it with “elected” and in Section 7 substitutes the word “appointment” with “election”.
Thousands of teachers, especially in primary schools, where Knut enjoys a huge following, would be in a quandary if the relationship is severed. It is on the basis of the recognition agreement that Knut negotiates better teachers' salaries, promotions and general welfare.
