Teachers demand refund after deduction of housing levy from January salary

The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has protested the deduction of the housing levy from teachers’ January pay.

Kuppet secretary general Akello Misori on Wednesday January 31, 2024 stated that union members from all over the country who shared their pay-slips with the union leadership revealed that Teachers Service Commission (TSC) deducted the housing levy tax from their January 2024 salaries.

The teachers’ union is now demanding that the TSC immediately refunds the deducted amount before it is too late.

“KUPPET demands the immediate release of the illegally deducted taxes to teachers. We have also sought an assurance from the Commission that it will obey court orders going forward, including specifically the orders on the housing tax,” Misori said.

Saboti MP Caleb Amisi frustrated as Housing levy deducted from His January salary: Photo./[Courtesy]

Misori made the remarks during a press briefing at the Kuppet headquarters in Nairobi.

The Kuppet secretary general further noted that failure by the TSC to refund the illegally deducted funds, the union will sue the commission for failing to honour court orders that declared the tax unconstitutional.

“Such action fits in a disturbing pattern where public authorities obey court orders at their own convenience,” Misori said.

Misori’s sentiments emerged a day after Saboti Member of Parliament (MP) Caleb Amisi expressed his frustration to the President for defying court orders.

In a post shared on his X page on January 30, Amisi shared his payslip, showing deduction of the housing levy.

“Dear President Ruto, immediately you land from Rome I want you to tell me where to find you to get back this housing levy that you have already deducted from this month payslip in total disregard of the court subpoena,” read a part of the statement.

“I need the money urgently to pay the fees of one of the many needy bright students that I have been educating but currently stuck at home,” he added.

This is after the Court of Appeal on January 26, 2024 declined to suspend orders barring the government from deducting housing levy from employed Kenyans.

This effectively meant the housing levy deductions remained suspended as declared in an earlier ruling by the High Court.

The Attorney General and the National Treasury had moved to the appellate court after the High Court found the deductions unconstitutional.