Post: Embrace dialogue, TSC and striking teachers urged

Head of Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Mbeere Diocese, in Embu, Bishop Moses Masamba has called on Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and striking KUPPET teachers to drop their hardline positions and embrace dialogue.He said supremacy wars between the two was going to worsen the situation to the detriment of learners, some of whom would be sitting their national exams later in term.He said the grievances by teachers emanating from the signed CBA could be handled through a genuine discourse where each party comes to the table with clean hands.Speaking on Saturday at Gachoka area in Mbeere South Constituency when he presided over the recognition ceremony of pioneers of the diocese, Bishop Masamba called on the employer to keep her part of the bargain with regard to the CBA.He said if the implementation proved difficult, TSC should come out and explain it to the teachers to avert such industrial actions.'If for one reason or another you are unable or you don't want to fulfil your pledge, it is only fai r that you come out and give an explanation to the other party,' he said.Former Mbeere South MP Geoffrey King'ang'i and a retired army officer said even in a moment of war, a truce could only be found when warring factions agree to talk.'As a country, we must learn to talk to each other to end such differences and quarrels,' he said.The teachers have been on strike since Monday last week agitating among other things, promotion of teachers who have stagnated, delay in employment of 20, 000 new teachers and conversion of 46, 000 JSS and primary teachers to permanent and pensionable terms.Source: Kenya News Agency