Aasai

Members of the University Academic Staff Union (UASU) have begun their strike despite being shot in the arm by the National Treasury. UASU lecturers at the University of Nairobi (UON) and Maseno University threw down their tools on Wednesday, saying their financial demands have yet to be met as agreed in the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs). He said that arrears of Ksh.7.9 billion under the 2017 CBA have yet to be paid despite a court order granting the order.

 "Staff have been reduced to beggars. Phase 2 was meant to be paid. We gave the government 7 days to act after a 3-month delay," he said on the CBA signed in November 2024. "In 2017-2021 we had a similar CBA. It took 36 months for the government to cancel the agreement. We were rejected on March 2 and in 2021. The court rejected it. In 2025, the court decided to uphold it.

" He added that the government promised to fully implement the CBAs and "has been cricketing, silent" since then. "UoN staff health issues are taken for granted, management should address these issues." Nairobi branch secretary of the Kenya Universities Union of Students (KUSU) Peter Waita added that lecturers have been denied what is their right. He stressed that lecturers will not rest until their salaries are paid. "The government continues to ignore the workers. 

They must implement the 2017-2021, 2022-2025 CBAs and initiate negotiations for the 2025-2029 CBA," Waita noted. Moi University UASU Acting Secretary General Dr Dan Mukhwana said the strike would only end if the government honours its end of the agreement. "Our CBA of the last four years has not been implemented. If the money is not paid, we will not return to classes.

 The next cycle started in July. We have not been given a counter offer, we must strike," he said. "We will strike until the agreement is implemented. If the money has not been credited to members accounts. The Vice-Chancellor of UON must wake up and make a decision and if you cannot stop." Similar strikes have also begun at Egerton and Kisii Universities.

The ongoing strike has disrupted academic programmes at public universities. Although the government claims it plans to pay arrears in installments, lecturers insist that partial payments cannot replace full compliance with the CBA agreements. The strike comes after Moi University lecturers threw down their tools demanding that the university honour the 2021-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement and release about Ksh5 billion in pension contributions, which they say has left many retired staff without benefits.