NAIROBI, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government has rejected a proposal to pay 17.3 billion shillings (about 217 million U.S. dollars) salary increment arrears to over 230,000 striking teachers in one phase as the strike entered its third day on Wednesday.

    Acting Finance Minister John Michuki ruled out the possibility of yielding to the teachers' demand to pay the entire sum, maintaining the current state of the economy could not sustain the increment within a year.

    Michuki said there is no money in public coffers. "We have evaluated all the possible scenarios of our economy and it's not possible to meet the demands made by teachers for salary increase of 17.3 billion shillings in one year," the minister said.

    The remarks came as teachers' umbrella union, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), appeared to cede ground in efforts to have the government accept terms for a pay deal but maintained that the nationwide strike will continue.

    Knut also received the support of lawmakers late on Tuesday. The union's officials emerged from a meeting with some MPs with a proposal to have the new salaries increased from July 1, this year.

    The union has previously insisted that the pay rise be backdated to July last year but later said it would accept a single tranche from January this year.

    But the government wants to phase in the wage increase over three years and teachers fear an inflation rate running at around 26 percent a year will render the raise worthless.

    Primary schools across the country have been deserted for the past two days as KNUT resisted calls by the government for teachers to return to work.

    At least a dozen teachers were arrested on Monday and later charged in various courts on Tuesday.

    Confrontations with the police were reported in a number of towns and cities, including Mombasa, the country's main port, where tear gas was used to disperse demonstrating teachers.

    Knut chairman George Wesonga said he is extremely pleased with the success of the strike so far.

    "The strike is very successful. The strike was 90 percent. We are hoping that by today the rest who had not joined will join," Wesonga said late on Tuesday.

    "We are very happy with the outcome. Like in Nairobi, you can't get any schools going on at all."

    Knut Secretary-General Lawrence Majali said the union had previously stood its ground that the salaries be paid beginning January 1. Majali said the union has also agreed to the government's proposed minimum and maximum salaries of teachers in Job groups H to J.

    "However, we will not allow the government to pay the salaries in three phases. Our position is that we want the salaries to be paid at once," Majali said.

    Speaking to journalists late Tuesday, union officials were also confident that the ongoing efforts to have their members' salaries increased would be successful.

    "Nobody can bury their head in the sand and say learning is going on or send education officials to take a roll call of teachers since they will find none in schools," said Majali, scoffing at threats by the government to sack striking teachers.

    But Michuki said it is ill advised to continue making unreasonable demands on an economy that is not growing fast enough.

    He said there are other urgent and pressing issues for the government to deal with including the on-going food crisis that requires 37 billion shillings, implementation of Kriegler and Wakipost elections reports (50 billion shillings) and funding of free primary education and tuition in secondary schools.

    "It is obvious that our challenges do not originate from the demands by the education or any other sector but in our resource limitations," Michuki told journalists in Nairobi.

    He said the teachers' salary award could only be implemented in three years (6.1 billion shillings, 6.1 shillings and 5.1 billion shillings)

    Education Minister Sam Ongeri appealed for teachers to end the strike, warning that they risk losing pay or being fired.

    "We in the education sector stand ready to pay all the money we receive in the shortest time possible. However if the money is not available there will be no payment with or without the strike, regardless of the name of the person managing the sector," Ongeri told parliament.

    He said the strike would not achieve anything as the economy could not support the teachers' demands.

    "Instead of people spending time burning my portraits, I think they should be looking at the economy and see how it is performing," he said, adding that the Treasury had told him it could not shoulder the burden at a go.