KNUT Declares Strike as Kenyans Anxiously Await KCSE Results

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Chairman Wilson Sossion has declared 2^nd January as the date when teachers will down their tools in a countrywide strike.

The strike will be in protest to the mass transfer of over 3000 teachers, in a press briefing, Sossion has termed the transfers unfair and an injustice to Kenyan teachers.

KNUT had previously written to the Teachers Service Commission requesting a stop to the transfers which the commission overlooked and proceeded in what has been termed as the biggest human resource movements currently.

Teachers affected by the transfer include primary school head teachers and secondary school principals who have been in one station for over nine years with 28^th December 2018 being the deadline to hand over.

Sossion cited that the transfers threatened to break Teachers’ families as it would separate spouses and displace them.

A year ago, the commission shuffled up 1065 principals in a delocalization program that did not go well with the union requiring President Uhuru to mediate the standoff and requested that the policy is reviewed to ensure families are protected.

“The President’s directive ought to be respected and complied with,” Mr. Sossion said in the letter.

Talks that had been organized to discuss the matter failed in a meeting that was organized in Naivasha.

KNUT has since threatened to go on a nationwide strike in what they termed as withdrawing their services until they grievances are heard and solutions are provided.

This has come at a time when the country is anxiously waiting for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results in 2018.