• Many furious and frustrated examiners say they’ll t never mark papers again, even with a slight pay rise.
• Knec says everyone will be paid by Monday, money’s on the way but it’s a weekend.
Image: FILE
Furious and frustrated KCSE examiners have blamed the Kenya National Examination Council for failing to honour their promises to pay them for Christmas gifts for their families.
Now they are stuck in Nairobi.
A teacher from a school in Nyanza said he could not honour his promise to his children since Knec has not honoured its pay promise.
He was among the hundreds of national examiners who marked the 2023 KCSE exam at a centre in Nairobi.
“As I left home, I told my children that I was going to bring for them Christmas gifts from Nairobi, but the only thing I’m taking them are my dirty socks inside my bag,” the teacher told the Star on Sunday, requesting anonymity.
He was among examiners who were stranded in Nairobi when the Star caught up with them.
They said promises by some Knec officials that they would be paid their money before Friday last week had not been fulfilled.
The examiners had to raise money for a widowed colleague for transport back home after they were done with the marking exercise at a centre in Nairobi.
Among those stranded were those who marked Kiswahili and English papers.
An examiner had to call his wife at home and tell her to sell firewood and send the money to him for his transport back to the village.
In a quick rejoinder, a Knec official who sought anonymity, acknowledged the payment delays but assured the examiners that they will all be paid by Monday (today).
“The CEO is unavailable for comments right now. The examiners will be paid by tomorrow," the source said.
He said payments were initiated on Friday and they are on the way but this is a weekend; they will have the money on Monday.
There were also claims some examiners who marked Kiswahili Paper 3 at a high school in Nairobi were forced out of the centre on Saturday morning after they stayed put, demanding to be paid their money before they leave.
“Police ordered some of us out of the centre, we are now stranded here in Nairobi streets with nowhere to go and no transport to go home. Transport has also been hiked from the normal Sh1,200 up to Sh3,000 from Nairobi to Siaya,” one teacher said.
The examiners said in previous years, Knec used to give them Sh20,000 as a down payment once they were done with their marking assignment. They had been promised a Sh5,000 increment on the down-payment. Some examiners, however, said the payments last year were delayed until August.
The examiners said they were neither paid their transport reimbursement despite signing for it.
“We are always paid the money before leaving the centre. But, this time round even after signing for it, we were told there was no money and ordered out of the centre,” an examiner said.
“Some examiners just spent Thursday night at the centre, pretending they couldn’t go home then since it was late and they hadn’t booked vehicles, while the reality was that they didn’t have the money for transport," he said.
"At first, we were told the money would get to us in a few minutes. People called others asking whether they had received their payments until Friday at 5.30pm,”
“On Saturday, it dawned on us that nobody cares, people are stranded in Nairobi,” he added.
English Paper 3 examiners were to be paid Sh80 per paper, up from Sh77 in 2022, a Sh3 increment. The examiners’ coordination fee was also increased from Sh3,000 to Sh5,000.
The examiners said the money is usually paid two days after they report to the centre, but this time round they received it days after they started marking and after they raised concerns about delays.
Some examiners had been cleared from the exams marking centres as early as last Wednesday, but had been hanging around in Nairobi, visiting relatives for accommodation as they wait for their payments.
"The only thing we were given was the coordination fees of Sh5,000. People need to feed at home, we have other responsibilities too and the money is little. So, it was consumed long ago,” another examiner said.
Some of the examiners said the work was more tiring this time.
“Some of us were carrying boxes in the morning to the script room. By the end of the day, I had three such boxes,” an examiner said.
They marked an average of 150 papers each day.
There were 1, 200 examiners at Moi Girls Nairobi, the English Paper 3 marking centre.
The examiners marked an average 693 papers each for the seven days of the exercise.
“It was a tough environment. You don’t need to talk despite the challenges you face; if you complain, you are retired,” an examiner said.