“There is money”: Mbadi U-Turns on JSS Teacher Employment Claim

“There is money”: Mbadi U-Turns on JSS Teacher Employment Claim

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has backtracked on his previous statement about the lack of funds for employing Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers on permanent and pensionable contracts.

After asserting in a Citizen TV interview last Thursday that the treasury couldn’t fund the hiring of 20,000 teachers, Mbadi has now corrected himself, admitting he was misinformed about the budget allocation for JSS teachers.

Mbadi acknowledged his mistake during a phone interview with Citizen TV on Sunday, saying, “Those claiming there is budgetary provision for JSS teachers are correct. I was mistaken, and there’s no harm in admitting it. My earlier communication was unclear; I should have been more precise.”

In his update, the CS explained that his earlier comments referred to the cash shortage affecting salary payments for July to December.

However, he confirmed that funding for converting JSS teachers to permanent and pensionable status from January 2025 is in place, with Ksh. 22 billion allocated for this purpose.

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“I should have clarified that while there may be no funds for salaries from July to December, there is budgetary provision for the conversion starting in January,” he added.

Mbadi also mentioned that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has been informed about these updates.

This clarification comes amid frustrations from the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET), who have scheduled a nationwide strike for Monday, August 26, 2024.

The unions’ decision follows the TSC’s failure to address key concerns raised during a July 16, 2024, meeting aimed at resolving the planned industrial action and other teacher welfare issues.

Education CS Julius Migos has highlighted a severe funding shortfall affecting his ministry’s ability to meet educational demands, further intensifying the situation by disclosing that the government lacks the necessary funds to fully implement phase 2 of the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“There is money”: Mbadi U-Turns on JSS Teacher Employment Claim