Knut declares teacher support for President Ruto 2027 re-election

Teachers have announced their support for President William Ruto’s re-election in 2027, stating that the President has come out to settle disputes affecting them in the country.

Speaking in Nandi County on Monday, January 26, during teachers’ grassroots elections, Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Collins Oyuu stated that teachers will back President Ruto.

Oyuu also noted that the recent engagement the teachers had with the President at the statehouse had started to bear fruit. He said the government had set aside over Ksh 2 billion for teachers’ promotion and to employ new teachers.

“We, as the teachers in this country, commend the President for the review of the CBA circle. You are aware that promotion of teachers has taken another twist because every other teacher has stagnated in one grade for quite a number of years,” Oyuu stated.

“The President directed that an additional ksh 1 billion be put in place, instead of promoting 25,000 teachers, promote 50,000 teachers. So who are we not to say thank you? As a union, we want to say thank you to the President,” he added reaffirming the union’s support.

The remarks by the teachers union were made at a time the government continued to implement commitments agreed upon between them and President William Ruto during talks at State House in September 2025.

The government promised to hire an additional 25,000 new teachers by January 2026, bringing the total of teachers hired since 2022 to 100,000 as promised. 

The head of state also promised the teachers salary increments as drafted in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) of 2025 to 2029. The CBA was worth Ksh 33.75 billion and was to be implemented in two phases.

Phase one began in July 2025, and the teachers started receiving their salary increment, which ranged between 16 and 32 per cent. Also, the Teachers Service Commission agreed to reduce the CBA implementation cycle from four years to three years so as to fast-track the implementations.

The teachers were also promised several goodies by the government, which included affordable housing units and retirement benefits, among other benefits.

Before the recent proclamations by the KNUT official, the teachers had earlier accused TSC of delaying the implementation of the agreements they had with the President. The teachers noted that the commission had done little to actualise commitments the President made when he hosted them at the statehouse in September.

“What has surprised us is that the TSC, which is supposed to fast-track all the gains we secured with the President, has done very little,” Akelo Misori, the secretary general of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers, stated at a media briefing in late December 2025.