Kuppet gives TSC ultimatum to refund housing levy

Kuppet gives TSC ultimatum to refund housing levy

Kuppet gives TSC ultimatum to refund housing levy

There is growing pressure on the teacher’s employer to reimburse the best paid teacher for up to Sh30,000 that was withheld as a housing levy in July of last year.The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was given a 14-day ultimatum by the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) on Wednesday to reimburse the housing levy or risk legal action.Kuppet referred to the deductions as TSC’s flagrant disregard for court rulings.

“The commission has no justification whatsoever for taking teacher funds without a valid legal basis. Moses Nthurima, the acting secretary general of Kuppet, stated, “The superior courts have spoken for themselves, and it is in the public domain they cannot claim they don’t know the orders and for that reason, they have to return the money.”

When it became apparent that housing levies had been withdrawn from the paychecks of 406,000 teachers in February, even though the levy had been ruled unlawful, Nthurima demanded that TSC reimburse all of the money that had been withheld.

Kuppet has now threatened to take legal action against the employer.Last week TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia said that the January deductions were effected before the court order.

Dr Macharia told journalists that the the ruling on housing levy came after TSC had paid the salaries.“We run our payroll on 20th of every month and the ruling came on the 26th,” she said during a media workshop in Nairobi.

Kuppet’s requests include a reimbursement of all housing levy deductions made since the program’s inception in July of last year.The Standard’s calculations showed that the top principal, the highest-paid teacher, received around sh6,000 per month in deductions from his maximum basic salary of Sh131,380, less any attendant allowances.

This indicates that although the lowest paid teacher, who makes around Sh22,793, has had about Sh5,000 withheld thus far, the highest paid have had about Sh30,000 withheld.

“The government has shown an unquenchable desire to flout judicial orders… Nthurima stated, “Kuppet demands the immediate refund of the illegal deductions; if we do not do so within 14 days, we shall institute legal proceedings.”According to him, the housing levy withdrawals are a flagrant disregard for court rulings.

Nthurima further questioned TSC’s excuse for making deductions this month despite the court order. He revealed that TSC had indicated its intention to refund the deductions in official correspondence with the union.

“The commission last month, in January, said that they had already processed the payroll, this month, they cannot give the same excuse. So as teachers, we are saying that the CEO and commissioners (TSC) are in contempt of court,” Nthurima said.

A payslip by a teacher in job group C3, seen by The Standard, shows that the Commission deducted Sh1,114 as housing levy.

According to the teacher, no explanation has been provided on the deductions or if they would be discontinued.The teacher remarked, “We were shocked after downloading the payslip. We had hoped that this deduction would be stopped this month.”

According to Nthurima, the commission should not act as the Executive’s puppet since it is autonomous and has authority granted to it by the Constitution.”TSC is meant to be autonomous, operating independently of the Executive, but it appears that the commission is now siding with the Executive… Thus, this is flagrantly breaking the law,” he stated.

During the second reading of the Housing Bill in Parliament on February 20,  lawmakers passed it. Additionally, on February 21, during the third reading, the MPs approved the Bill. A portion of the opposition members of parliament left the chambers during the  House session, with 141 lawmakers voting in favor of the bill and 58 against. The President will now sign the Bill into law when it is brought before the Senate for  discussion.

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