Teachers Call For Demonstrations Next Week
A teachers’ union has called for a nonviolent protest against the government’s proposed housing levy on Tuesday.
From 9 to 10 am, the Mombasa branch of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) will start the hour-long parade from Pembe za ndovu to Treasury Square.
According to a notification dated May 19 and signed by the branch executive secretary Lynette Kamadi, “The teachers of Mombasa intend to hold a peaceful demonstration on the date mentioned against the housing levy as proposed in the finance bill, 2023.”
It is addressed to the regional commander, and copies have also been sent to the county commissioner, the county police chief, the department of education, and TSC, among other people.
The freedom to congregate and protest is guaranteed by the Constitution, according to Kamadi, who has pledged that they will abide by it. She also noted that the demonstrators will be nonviolent and unarmed.
Please provide us the assistance we need to relay our message to the relevant leadership, she said.
The Housing Fund was suggested by President William Ruto, who stated that all salaried Kenyans would be required to pay an obligatory monthly payment equal to 3% of their gross income.
On April 23, Ruto said, “If you make Sh10,000, three percent is Sh300 every month.”
The employer will contribute equally to the fund under the affordable housing initiative, according to the president, who later emphasized that this is not a tax.
Since then, government employees and Azimio la Umoja leaders who have criticized the President for the fund’s methodology have come out strongly against it.
The politicians, led by Raila Odinga, said that some Kenyans already had homes and did not require being compelled to contribute to the Housing Fund.
Moses Nthurima, the deputy secretary general of Kuppet, recently added to the chorus by saying that they anticipated wage increases rather than more deductions.
They desire a voluntary levy.
“Teachers can use up to 40% of their pension contributions to build homes under the new PSSS Act. For the construction of dwellings, they do not require a new tax, he declared.
Teachers Call For Demonstrations Next Week
