Sossion hits out at TSC after 110 KNUT offices shut down due to lack of funds

Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion says the union has been forced to close 110 offices countrywide due to a cash crisis.

Sossion, during a press address on Friday, blamed the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for the woes haunting the union in what he termed a well-calculated move to permanently cripple KNUT.

Sossion claimed TSC has systematically continued to mutilate the KNUT membership register with the sole aim of cutting it off completely.

“Already 110 branch offices have been shut down and property auctioned because of diminished resources….we have lost two branch staff, the late Paul Lepore, Executive Secretary Narok and Xavier Miheso of Kakamega branch because of inability to access quality healthcare,” he said.

He argued that TSC has perfected the art of frustrating the union, saying that as a result, KNUT which was by June 2019 receiving union dues to the tune of Ksh.144 million a month was by October this year receiving only Ksh.25,140,984.

“For unexplained reasons, the check off system was suspended by TSC then followed by illegal massive offloading of members from the register. This mischief is aimed at creating wrangles in the union and weakening the bargaining platform for teachers,” he stated.

TSC, through Communications Director Beatrice Wababu, however said KNUT’s woes are self-inflicted.

”It is KNUT that went to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) asking for an audit of its members and whether TSC was using two payrolls. The audit vindicated TSC revealing we were acting within the law in line with the commission’s code of conduct,” said Ms. Wababu.

“Let Sossion own that his decision to go to court which initially appeared good to him was not well calculated. All the teachers exiting KNUT to other unions are voluntarily moving away to enjoy the benefits offered to them through the Career Progression Guidelines that KNUT opposes in court.”

KNUT has for the last one year witnessed a massive withdrawal of members and as a result failed to sustain its operations due to the shrinking income stream.