‘Hired Goons’ Disrupt KNTPG Meeting
A Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group (KNTPG) meeting was on Friday disrupted by an unknown group of individuals who claimed that they had received orders to stop the meeting.
The group of individuals comprised five individuals who had T-shirts that looked similar to the ones worn by the KNTPG group members themselves.
The five individuals declared that a Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) official had instructed them to stop the meeting from happening on Friday.
One of the five individuals is said to have shouted, “This meeting must end right now.”
Following the incident, the group then made their way out of the meeting area via motorbike.
The KNTPG then claimed that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and KNUT were the ones responsible for attempting to intimidate the KNTPG members.
“The five individuals were hired to disrupt our meeting and then lay the blame on KNTPG,” said a teacher who had attended the KNTPG meeting.
KNUT Secretary-General Collins Oyuu did not escape blame for the incident as KNTPG members blamed the recent transfers on him with Ms Martha Omollo having been transferred from Nairobi County to a far-flung Trans Nzoia County just because of her involvement with the group.
The group has been at the forefront in the resistance against the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programme. TSC has installed the TPD with teachers being instructed to contribute a stipend of Sh. 6,000 to undergo the TPD programme each year. Teachers will then have their teaching license renewed every five years.
Current KNUT Secretary-General Collins has since refuted the claims of being linked with the five individuals who disrupted the KNTPG meeting.
“It is wrong to connect us with this…what could I need to send people to go and disrupt a meeting that I knew nothing about. I have no intention of engaging in such things,” said Mr Collins Oyuu.
However, Oyuu did implore the KNTPG to use the right channels to express their opinions among them involving TSC in a dialogue on issues related to teachers.
“I am not going to fight for the welfare of teachers who are using the media and social media to disrespect the Commission,” said Mr Oyuu.
In addition, Oyuu urged the teachers who feel their transfers have been a ‘disturbance’, should contact KNUT and they shall have an amicable discussion over the same.
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