Barely 40 days after signing a return to work formula, lecturers have issued a 15-day strike notice over delayed salaries.
According to the University Academic Staff Union (UASU), the government has failed to honour an agreement signed on November 23 last year. The agreement ended a 24-day strike that disrupted all 35 public universities and two constituent colleges nationwide.
According to UASU Organising Secretary, Onesmus Maluki, the government agreed to a pay rise for lecturers that would be backdated from October.
And in what was seen as a show of goodwill, the government, through the Higher Education Principal Secretary, Beatrice Inyangala, issued a circular to university dons and directed the institutions to honour the pay increase.
University of Nairobi main campus.
However, according to Onesmus, the government, and the university did not honour this agreement in the December salaries. “We agreed that the new salaries for university lecturers would be implemented in December and that we would also receive arrears for the months of October and November,” he told the press on Wednesday.
He added, “We saw a circular from the PS directing the universities to prepare to pay the new salaries in December. But again, we went for Christmas without the new salary as was expected.”
University heads insist they are yet to receive funds to effect the pay increase.
The agreement, reached in late November 2024, includes implementing the 2021–2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) valued at Ksh9.7 billion.
The CBA will be implemented in three phases, with the first tranche of Ksh4.3 billion covering nine months up to June 2025. The remaining Ksh5.4 billion will be disbursed in two equal installments of Ksh2.7 billion each.
As part of the agreement, the highest salary for lecturers, specifically for research professors, will increase from Ksh283,087 in 2021-2022 to Ksh345,816 in 2024-2025. The lowest salary is expected to rise from Ksh57,729 to Ksh63,647 over the same period.
However, now the government is facing a new strike notice, which could see learning in universities halted again. UASU warned it will ask its members to downtool on January 15 if the government will not have to pay the salary arrears.
Onesmus warned, “The government did not honour the return to work formula, and therefore we were forced to go back again on strike.”
Schools reopen on Monday, January 6.
Entrance to Kenyatta University along Thika Super Highway.
Photo
Courtesy