National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has recanted his earlier declaration that the government is insolvent to employ Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers.
The CS had previously authoritatively stated that the government did not have an allocation for the educators’ permanent and pensionable employment and that adjustments would not be made due to the constraints occasioned by the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024.
“We don’t have resources for recruiting JSS teachers on permanent, that I would be lying. We also don’t have resources for the additional 20,000,” he said.
However, in his new sentiments, the CS stated there was money for the foregoing cause.
He said the allocation for the teachers’ employment beginning January 2025 was already set aside.
“Those who are saying there is money in the budget for JSS teachers are right. I am wrong and there is nothing with saying I am wrong. The communication was wrong from my side I should have been clearer,” said Mbadi on Sunday.
“What I should have made clear is that there is money in the budget for conversion of JSS teachers to permanent and pensionable from January 2025 and there is Ksh.22 billion available.”
“I actually implied that there would be no money to pay them from July to December but I should have been very clear that there is money in the budget from January,” he added.
This came a day after the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee chairperson, Ndindi Nyoro, said the government had allocated monies to facilitate the permanent employment of JSS teachers.
Speaking in Nandi county on Saturday, August 24, the Kiharu MP, who had accompanied President William Ruto on a working tour, revealed the government had set aside funds despite the fate that caught the Finance Bill 2024.
“I want to assure our JSS interns that I am the chairman of the budget committee in the National Assembly; we budgeted Sh 18.7 billion to confirm our JSS interns into permanent and pensionable terms. All that money is available, so when they hear things, they should know that as their brothers and sisters, we care about them,” said Nyoro.
The lawmaker observed that it would be unreasonable for the educators to continue earning Sh 17,000 salary despite having been interning for over two years.
Nyoro said the money for the JSS teachers is different from the one the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) promised basic education teachers in their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
He said the interns’ employment would be actualised upon TSC completing the process of onboarding them into the government directory.
“The president and the government have seen it irrational for the teachers to continue earning Sh 17,000. I want to confirm that the money for all the 46,000 JSS interns is intact. We want TSC to hurry in giving them employment letters,” said Nyoro.
