Frustrated Teacher Confronts Mudavadi with Tough Questions over Poor Pay: "Why am I Suffering?"
- Tension gripped a UDA meeting with teachers in Kakamega after a Butere Girls’ teacher publicly confronted Musalia Mudavadi over years of government neglect
- Wilbroda Shinanda slammed the Career Progression Guidelines, saying she now shares a job group with her former teacher
- Her fiery speech also attacked the housing levy, asking why teachers earning as little as KSh 3,000 a month still face heavy deductions
Didacus Malowa, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.
There was tension at Tande High School in Kakamega after a brave teacher took to the stage and delivered a hard-hitting speech aimed at Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
Source: Twitter
Wilbroda Shinanda, the Kakamega Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Woman Representative and a teacher at Butere Girls’ High School, confronted Mudavadi during a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) campaign meeting attended by over 3,000 teachers.
The event, intended to drum up support for the UDA candidate in the Malava by-election, quickly turned political, but not in the way the organisers may have hoped.
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How are Kenyan teachers suffering?
Shinanda didn’t mince her words as she accused the government of betraying teachers through poor salaries, stunted career growth, and unfair policy implementation.
"I am a teacher right now. I am teaching with a teacher who taught me at Butere Girls. We are in the same job group. Chances are I may die before I get any promotion and it's really a sad state of affairs," she lamented.
The crowd, mostly composed of public school teachers, roared with cheers as she laid bare what many in the profession have long whispered.
The Career Progression Guidelines (CPG), a controversial policy governing teacher promotions, was one of her main targets.
Shinanda argued that the CPG had created an unfair system that locked thousands of teachers in the same grade for years.
"As teachers of Malava, we are here. We are the teachers who got a KSh 29 increment in the just concluded salaries and we are suffering because of the monster we call CPG. We ask that this be done away with so that the promotions are not pegged on administrative posts.
"We have hardly 10,000 schools in our country and almost 400,000 teachers. Not all of us can be administrators. Can we get promotions even without being administrators? We are suffering, we are suffering, and we are suffering," she stated.
She also called out the government's failure to post enough teachers to needy schools, citing the local Samitsi Girls’ Secondary School, which she said relies on Board of Management teachers without capitation.
Why is Shinanda against the housing tax?
Her voice broke when she turned to the housing levy, which has stirred public anger across the country.
"Bwana PCS why am I paying the housing levy and I am still paying the rent? I pay the landlord at the end of the month. PCS why am I paying the same and I have a loan from Mwalimu National SACCO? They deduct about KSh 30,000 from my pay slip. PCS, why am I suffering and I earn below the the two-thirds rule. I earn KSh 3,000 per month and I have to smile and look like I am a healthy teacher. I'm not," she lamented.
She also raised concerns about the Social Health Authority (SHA) medical cover, saying it offers little value for teachers who now pay out of pocket for proper treatment.
Source: UGC
She closed by reminding Mudavadi that she has known him personally for years and wasn’t trying to play politics.
"I know that some may want to please, others may want to make flowers, PCS, I am your friend, I have only told you things that are factual and things that these teachers want to hear. Once that is done, the teacher in Malava will make a sober and solid decision there next MP," she concluded.
Why were secondary teachers aggrieved?
In a related report, thousands of secondary school teachers were stunned to discover that their expected salary boost amounted to as little as KSh 36.
The disappointment came after the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) approved a modest pay rise, only for about 70% of it to allegedly be withheld by KUPPET.
Many teachers felt betrayed, calling the token increase an insult and questioning the union’s role in safeguarding their welfare.
Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
