Teachers in Mombasa have asked politicians in the county to fight for the increment of their allowances if they want the teachers support in their political quests. They called on MPs Najib Balala (Mvita), Hassan Joho (Kiasuni) and Ramdhan Kajembe (Changamwe), and aspirants Abdulswamad Nassir (Mvita), Abdalla Mwaruwa (Mombasa governor) to ensure teachers get the 300 per cent salary increment they are asking from the government.

Speaking during the Knut Mombasa branch AGM, Knut first national vice chairman Samson Kaguma said teachers have waited far too long for their salary increment. Kaguma said since their last increment in 1997, commodity prices gave increased by over 400 percent but teachers still get the same salaries. "Now that I don't have a flag to defend the government, I have no choice but to fight for the citizens. I will be in Parliament and I will raise your issues," Balala told the teachers at Mombasa Baptist high school.

He said the Teachers Service Commission should be headed by a teacher by profession and not an engineer. "We want professionalism in everything we do. If you are in the tourism board, you must be a specialist in tourism. You can't bring a Jua Kali man to sit on the tourism board," he said Kajembe, who is battling Balala for the Mombasa senate seat, said teachers have been neglected for so long in the country.