A senior official from Masaba Knut branch has accused the national Treasury for delaying to release funds for teachers who retired in the period between 1998-2006.
This comes after Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich recently revealed an allocation of Sh1.5 billion for the same teachers in the supplementary budget and another Sh1.5 billion in 2016/2017 budget out of the Sh16.3 billion owed to the former civil servants.
But branch Deputy Secretary General James Oteki threw a scathing attack to the government accusing it of blackmail and insincerity.
“I am extremely disappointed with the manner in which the government is treating payment of retired teachers. They have been waiting for this money in vein despite Parliament passing the Motion regarding their payment,” he said.
“It is sad that people have to wait to be paid their dues for all this long and to make matters worse, the money is paid at a slow pace and in phases which was not the agreement,” he added.
He said many teachers who were waiting for the money have died.
“For instance in our area of representation, I have many of our former members who have either died or went missing because of the ordeals they are going through. Their families are now languishing in abject poverty and need aid,” Mr Oteki added.
“I want to urge the government to facilitate quick payments to avert such unprecedented tragedies. These people are not beggars hence they should not have their retirement money delayed for whatsoever reasons,” he added during Sunday’s address to Gesima teachers.