Kisumu MCA takes a salary cut to pay striking teachers
A Member of the Kisumu County Assembly has formally submitted a request for a 35 per cent pay cut that should be used to pay striking teachers.
Mr Edwin Anayo, who is the Kisumu county minority leader, submitted the letter to the interim clerk of the assembly on Monday.
“As a Member of County Assembly of Kisumu representing Market Ward, I hereby willingly agree to donate 35% of my salary to the teachers kitty from today henceforth so as to enable the teachers get their pay rise,” Mr Anayo said in his letter.
The Milimani ward representative becomes the first elected official to formally make the gesture, though similar sentiments have been raised by Parliament’s Majority Leader Aden Duale, Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula and Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba.
“I am not doing this because I have a lot of money, the teachers are indeed suffering and we as leaders cannot allow that to continue,” Mr Anayo told Nairobi News.
“It’s not that when you give money you have a lot. It is a sacrifice that we make willingly and one of these days, you will be rewarded,” he said.
He said the solution to the teachers’ strike does not lie on the government alone and that all leaders need to sacrifice for teachers.
“Telling teachers that they are the highest paid in Africa is not a solution to the problem. We need to look at the problem at hand and solve it,” he said.
“Most of our leaders are earning good money. I don’t think deducting a small per centage will have an impact on their payslips,” he said.
