The future of over 500 Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers in Nyamira hangs in the balance after the county failed to renew their contracts.
According to a letter from the county's education department, the contracts expired on May 31, 2019.
In April, Nyamira Governor John Nyagarama revealed his intentions to send the teachers home, arguing that the wage bill in the county had shot up, making it difficult to budget for development.
"To streamline the public sector, I will not renew the contracts of over 500 ECDE teachers. We are working on a limited budget and the wage bill is too high," said the governor.
Already, over 1,000 employees mainly enforcement officers have been struck out of the payroll on grounds that they were fraudulently employed.
In the letter, Education Chief Officer Josephat Mecha asked the affected ECDE teachers to hand over to their respective head teachers, awaiting further communication. He also thanked them for the services rendered.
"Following the expiry of contracts for Phase II ECDE teachers on 31/5/19, the department of education wishes to inform you that contracts have expired and therefore, you're advised to hand over all the school properties to head teachers until further communication. Thank you for the services you rendered," read the letter.
The move has, however, irked the MCAs in the county. On Thursday, Nyamira County Assembly Speaker Moffat Teya led a team of MCAs to Governor Nyagarama's office to address the matter.
While details of the meeting were not shared by the county boss, Teya said the approach was wrong, adding that there was a need to have the matter addressed amicably.
"The assembly adjourned today’s afternoon sitting purely because of the 503 phase two ECDE teachers whose contract expired end of last month. The MCAs are not only concerned about the 503 teachers and their families but also about the many young learners who will be missing services because the instructors are out of the stations," said Teya.
"The Assembly is an arm of government and we went to consult the Executive arm which is headed by the governor on how we can handle and sort out this issue. Take note that the governor cannot be summoned to the Assembly and MCAs needed him to address them on this matter," he added.
#hivisasaoriginal