Govt still owes teachers 8.4bn/-

Between December 2012 and April this year, the government has recorded at least 8.4bn/- worth of arrears not related to wages entitled to some 12,245 teachers.

Conceding to the debt, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PMORA-LG) responsible for education Kassim Majaliwa yesterday told the House that the government is yet to pay the outstanding claims.
Majaliwa was responding to a question by Maria Hewa (CCM – Special Seat) who wanted to know how much the outstanding claim is for each region in the country and that when the government would clear the debt.

“The government is going to pay the remaining arrears after it is done with the verification process…” the deputy minister said explaining that for teachers, as is the case with other civil servants, outstanding claims are paid through their respective council budgets.

“In January 2012, the government disbursed the 19.2bn/- for arrears not related to salary claims and it also issued the 25.6bn/- which was outstanding salary debt for teachers under the PMORA-LG to cater for the claims recorded up to November 2011,” detailed the deputy minister using last year’s payments to show the government’s commitment to meeting its debts.

In fact, according to him, for the fiscal year 2013/2014 the government has allocated at least 18.3bn/- for teachers’ transfer a considerable increase from 13.3bn/- in 2012/2013. Also, for teachers vocations, 19.3bn/- has been allocated this year compared to 15.4bn/- last year. 
 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN