KUPPET Kakamega chapter led by their secretary general Johnstone Wabute.
The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Kakamega chapter has threatened to boycott this year’s national examination activities over concerns about teachers’ welfare and payment rates.
Speaking to the media on Monday, August 31, 2026, Kuppet Kakamega Branch Secretary General Johnstone Wabute urged other branches to join the boycott unless the union’s concerns are addressed.
“We are telling our teachers to avoid activities of the Kenya National Examinations. Don’t download those letters to go and mark,” Wabute said.
Kuppet Demands Review of Examination Payments
Wabute called on the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) and national leadership to engage the government and establish a structured payment arrangement before teachers resume marking, supervising and other examination-related duties.
“NEC should sit down with the unions and have a well-structured way of how they are going to pay teachers before we resume marking, supervising and all those processes with the Kenya National Examinations,” he said.
Kuppet youth representative Emanuel Wang’era also called for an increase in the rates paid to teachers participating in national examination activities.
“We are demanding that NEC be able to increase the rates. The rates that are there have stayed for long. We need revision both in senior school and junior school,” Wang’era said.
Kuppet Raises Concerns Over Teachers’ Recruitment
Wabute also criticised what he described as interference by Members of Parliament in the recruitment and promotion of teachers.
“We have seen parliamentarians interfering with the recruitment. We are sounding a warning to them. Let them not dare interfere with the promotions because some of our colleagues have stagnated in job groups for over 15 years, even others for 20 years,” he said.
He called for an independent recruitment process and urged that teacher recruitment be left entirely to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
Wabute further criticised the continued employment of teachers on contracts, particularly where contracts are extended beyond the initial one-year period.
“This tendency of putting teachers on contracts and even going beyond the contract terms, which is one year off, is something that we are not going to contain at all,” he said.
Wabute Warns Kakamega MPs
Wabute urged Kakamega MPs to stop issuing letters to teachers concerning employment matters and instead allow the relevant education authorities to handle recruitment and other employment processes.
He maintained that teachers participating in national examination activities should be adequately prepared and fairly compensated for their work.
The Kuppet official also called for timely payment, warning that delays could affect teachers’ ability to meet their financial and other responsibilities.
The threatened boycott could potentially disrupt preparations for this year’s national examinations if the union and the government fail to reach an agreement over the teachers’ concerns.
