Teachers Service Commission (TSC) secretary Gabriel Lengoibon is yet to be arrested, five days after the high court in Nakuru jailed him for six months for disobeying a court order.
The court ordered the acting Inspector General of police, Samuel Arachi, to arrest Lengoibon and hand him over to serve the jail term for contempt of court.
Lengoibon was found guilty of failing to obey a legitimate order requiring TSC to pay the retired teachers salary arrears and consequential pensions based on last salaries accrued under the October 11, 1997 collective agreement with the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT).
The group of retired teachers sued TSC and the Director of Pensions in 2006 claiming lumpsum salary increments and accrued pensions from July 1997 and won the case through a ruling delivered by Justice David Maraga on October 23, 2008.
TSC appealed against the judgment by Justice Maraga but the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the former teachers who are claiming Sh 42.3 billion in arrears.
On May 16, 2014, Justice Anyara Emukule committed the TSC boss to civil jail but the sentence was suspended to exploit all possible avenues to effect the retirees’ payments.
The retirees’ lawyer Dominic Kimata who spoke to this writer expressed optimism that the teachers will get their pay, alluding that the matter could be headed back to parliament.