The teachers union yesterday denied being involved in negotiations with the Ministry of Education over teachers' salaries.

A Kenya National Union of Teachers official told Minister Kalonzo Musyoka not to mislead the public about "non-existent negotiations" about teachers' salaries. Addressing a Laikipia District Knut officials' meeting in Nanyuki yesterday, Mr Fred Ontere, the deputy national treasurer, said the minister's remarks were meant to provoke and incite teachers.

He denied there were any "secret talks" between the ministry and the Knut.

Meanwhile, the Knut national governing council and the advisory board will meet on June 16 and 17 to plan the union's strategy in view of "recent utterances attributed to the minister and the delayed implementation of the teachers' salary increment scheme".

"Despite having proper channels of talking to us, the minister has been provoking and inciting us through the Press.

"There have been no secret talks between him and the Knut national office. He should blame himself for any consequences of this provocation," Mr Ontere said.

He said next week's meeting would also deliberate on the minister's stated intention to refer the shelved Teachers Service Commission Bill back to Parliament.

The Bill seeks to give the ministry powers to renegotiate awarded salary increments, shelved last year after all the teaching fraternity boycotted work and took to the streets in protest.

Mr Ontere represented Knut Secretary-General Ambrose Adongo at the launching of the Laikipia Knut Peace Initiative Project.

He was accompanied by the national project coordinator, Mr Alex Kariavu, Laikipia Knut Executive Secretary Dixon Oseko and Chairman Fred Thumi. Mr Ontere said the peace initiative project was geared towards healing the wounds created by last year's tribal clashes in the district. He said the fighting had created hatred, suspicion and mistrust between various communities in the district.

He said Knut, which lost six teachers during the clashes, was concerned about the ill feelings created by the violence and be lieved that they needed to be healed and the various communities reconciled to restore peace.

"Teachers are best suited for this role as they are close to the society and in the best position to teach children about the importance of living in peace and harmony," he said.

The project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development and Knut, aims to bring together political, religious and other opinion leaders in workshops to be held in all areas of the district. It is expected that the leaders will talk about the causes of the clashes and their impact on the co-existence between the various communities affected.

Following up on the initiative is a leaders' meeting scheduled for June 19 at Nyahururu.

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