- Another one said she received her payments on Monday after travelling to her home county on Friday.
- She had borrowed transport from a friend after spending a day at a relative’s house in the city.
Image: FILE
Hundreds of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination examiners who have since last Wednesday been stranded in Nairobi, have finally returned to their homes.
The examiners left Nairobi for their respective homes on Monday, five days after they were cleared from the examination centres they had been deployed to mark the 2023 KCSE examinations.
They left the city after receiving down payments for their services from the Kenya National Examination Council.
Majority of the examiners confirmed receiving their payments from the exams council on Monday. They received the money through Mpesa.
“I thank God for answering my prayers, Knec has finally wired the money to my Mpesa account,” one of the examiners who was among those stranded in Nairobi told the Star on the phone.
Another one said she received her payments on Monday after travelling to her home county on Friday. She had borrowed transport from a friend after spending a day at a relative’s house in the city.
Tens of the examiners reached by the Star after they received the payments said they were happy at last that they could now buy gifts and enjoy their Christmas with their families.
Some took their excitements to one of the WhatsApp groups they had earlier created expressing their happiness after they received their monies.
“Ting’ ting’ imeingia. Finally, Knec wamelipa sasa,” an examiner posted in one of the groups. The Star saw a screenshot of the chat.
“Knec has behaved, marking hatuachi,” another examiner posted.
Another one posted, “ting’ ting’ hoyee.”
The examiners kept posting excitement messages on the group that belonged to CRE 313/2 Knec examiners.
A Knec official confirmed to the Star that all the examiners had been paid as earlier promised.
“The examiners are now happy after Knec paid them as promised,” the official told the Star by phone on Tuesday.
The examiners had earlier blamed Knec for failing to honour their promises to pay them for Christmas gifts for their families.
They furiously expressed their frustrations after some got stuck in Nairobi for lack of transport to return to their homes after being cleared from examination marking centres last week.
A teacher from a school in Nyanza on Sunday said he could not honour his promise to his children since Knec hadn’t 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 would all be paid by Monday. A promise honoured by the council.
“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 were on the way but this is a weekend; they will have the money on Monday.
The examiners had earlier 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.
English Paper 3 examiners were 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.
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.
They marked an average of 150 papers each day.
The examiners marked an average 693 papers each for the seven days of the exercise.