A top Masaba Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) branch official has denied claims that a section of its members were crying foul over alleged discrimination on members believed to be teaching in primary schools.
This comes a week after a group believed to be members teaching in primary schools openly accused a section of Knut officials for allegedly undermining them during a funeral ceremony of one of their members on Thursday at Karantini.
The claims of discontent among members have since been downplayed by branch Deputy Secretary General James Oteki who blamed ‘invincible political forces' for perpetuating rifts among union members.
“Our union is one of the strongest in the country and few individuals who are being used by politicians cannot separate us. The allegations that officials believed to have been one time secondary schools teachers are discriminating members is just hearsay. All members are treated equally and so I don’t think there is a crisis,” Oteki said.
He said the union was guided by the constitution and any decision made would only be adopted after in-depth consultations among members.
“We don’t make arbitrary decisions because we are guided by our constitution. All members are equal and I don’t remember a case where someone has been treated less equal. Whoever is perpetuating the propaganda is insincere because our union is intact,” he affirmed.
The disgruntled members had alleged on Thursday that the union was discriminating some members during the retirement sendoff and funeral fee given by the union to affected members, something that Oteki dismissed as nonsensical.
“It’s nonsensical for someone to claim that we are biased when giving our contributions in case of a tragedy or when a member retires. The benefits given are spelt out well in our constitution and I don’t think those who were making the remarks are genuine members,” he said.