Feature - compromise deal ends teachers' strike

Kenya's estimated 240,000 public school teachers at the weekend called off their nationwide strike, much to the relief of the country’s education sector, which had been plunged into crisis for four weeks. However, the mood with which the protracted stalemate between the government and the teachers union, over a salary payment deal agreed upon in 1997, was settled suggests that Kenya may yet not have seen the last of teachers' strikes. While calling off the strike, Francis Ng'ang'a, the secretary-general of the giant Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), told teachers to resume work "for the sake of education and students", who were sitting their end-of-year national examinations. The announcement followed the signing of a "return-to-work" formula, under which the government promised to implement the contentious salary increment deal with effect from 1 July next year. The teachers went on strike on 23 September, due to failure by the government to deliver the second phase of the outstanding 150 to 200 percent pay rise it awarded teachers in 1997, saying it did not have the money to fully honour the agreement. The first phase, which was implemented, involved an increment of between 35 and 45 percent in the teachers' pay. The government argued that teachers' salaries were already taking up the lion's share of the country's education budget, and that a further pay rise would not be realistic. Official figures indicate that in Kenya's annual education budget of the equivalent of US $670 million, about $540 million was spent on teachers’ salaries. KNUT officials had described the government's position as "treacherous" and a "waste of time" and called the nationwide strike. According to KNUT officials, the issue for teachers was not whether the government had enough money: it was that the government had promised to increase teachers' pay and needed to honour the agreement. The teachers’ position hardened even more after members of parliament passed bills awarding themselves hefty increases to their monthly salary, roughly amounting to $6,000 dollars each. The teachers' resolve was also strengthened by support from the Kenya National Association of Parents, churches, human rights groups and the trade union fraternity. In a bid to weaken the strike, Education Minister Henry Kosgey threatened to sack all striking teachers, froze teachers' salaries and embarked on recruitment of new teachers. The high court, however, rejected these proposed moves. The strike ended just in time to enable teachers to supervise the crucial national examinations for primary and secondary school final year candidates, beginning on Tuesday. The teachers had earlier threatened to disrupt the examinations if a solution to the stalemate had not been reached. The call to end the strike, however, did not go down well with all KNUT members. The announcement ending the strike has sparked protests among some KNUT members, who accused national officials of betraying their cause and reaching the decision without consulting them. Khalif Khelef, a human rights activist based in the coastal city of Mombasa is one of those who are disappointed by the KNUT decision to call off a strike based on an agreement with the current government, when general elections are scheduled to take place before the end of the year. According to Khelef, by agreeing that the pay rise can take effect next year, KNUT gravely eroded the leverage of the teacher's demands by potentially placing the issue at the mercy of a new government. "The union leadership is a sellout. You can't make an agreement with a government that did not honour its pledge and expect it to take the responsibility in the coming months," Khelef told IRIN. "Who is sure KANU [the ruling Kenya African National Union party] will come back to power?" The current government under President Daniel arap Moi ends its term of office with the general elections expected to take place in December. Responding to the accusations, Ng'ang'a said the protests were made by KNUT branch officials who "must say things for the sake of the grass roots. They don't understand the difficulties of the situation and the truth behind everything," he said. Albert Mwenda, a programme officer at the Nairobi-based Institute of Economic Affairs, agreed with Ng'ang'a and added that the contract was binding on the state, and that it did not matter which government was in power. Mwenda, however, is convinced that the government will not in the short term be able to meet its obligation under the agreement owing to the current weak state of the economy, which is running on a deficit. Furthermore, he argued, the frozen external funding from the IMF and the World Bank might not be restored until after the elections. "Teachers have, in the short term lost. They never got what they were asking for, but the decision they took was sensible, especially during a transition." Mwenda told IRIN. "They were not going to win. It was a good step. We are going to have a new government. The best thing that can happen is the new government will want to address the issue," he added. If teachers' salaries are to be doubled, as provided for under the agreement, then the total allocation would have to be far above one billion dollars, which is unrealistic under the present economic circumstances, according to Mwenda. "There were no new efforts by the government towards mobilising such resources, which means the government was not committed to making those payments," he said. "I want to believe that they [KNUT] made the decision for the sake of the students. They were just being realistic. But certainly, teachers and students are losers in this deal," he added. Ng'ang'a himself admitted as much during an interview with IRIN. "You know the kind of adamant government we are dealing with - people who allow children to decay for months," he said. "The strike should not have been allowed to go on for more than three days. The government was not willing to provide a settlement. We realised these people are not serious." According to Ng'ang'a, the decision to call off the teachers' strike and return to school was done more as a duty to Kenyan parents and the public, who had had supported the strike, than on the basis of accepting a promise by the government to implement the agreement next year. "We know how parents and members of the public supported teaches in the strike. We also read the mood, and decided for the sake of our children doing exams to go back to work. Whether they [the government] will be truthful or not, we don't know. But we don't believe any government should lie," Ng'ang'a said.