Lecturers' fury as State slashes salary proposal

Lecturers have vowed to intensify their ongoing strike after the government lowered its counter-offer for the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to Sh11.95 billion, from Sh12 billion, after the negotiation talks collapsed.

The unions yesterday termed the reduced offer a slap in the face, accusing the government of negotiating in bad faith and insisting on learning in public universities.

“The Government has just slapped us in the face. The offer is going down instead of going up,” Odoyo Genga, a trustee of the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA) said.

The strike enters its 26th day today (Tuesday), crippling teaching and learning in public universities as the standoff between the Ministry of Education and the unions continues to sting.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba told The Standard that the Ministry is set to reconvene the negotiations team to seek a solution to the strike.

But Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga accused the Vice-Chancellors’ Committee of determining figures with the Ministry of Education before presenting them to the unions, insisting that collective bargaining required the parties to negotiate and reach an agreement.

“We shall not take a figure that we have not negotiated,” he said.

The offer translated to an approximately three per cent increase in basic salaries, which they considered inadequate amid rising living costs.

However, Wasonga cited increases in the prices of essential commodities, arguing that the proposed increment did not reflect the economic realities facing university staff.

Wasonga warned that the impasse could result in a prolonged strike if the Government failed to change its approach.

“If you leave this impasse in the hands of the State Department for Higher Education and the Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, then prepare for a long strike,” he said.

The disruption by the nearly 10,000 lecturers is likely to create a backlog that universities will have to address once the strike ends.

The institutions could be forced to review their academic calendars, with lectures potentially extending beyond the scheduled semester, examinations being pushed forward and subsequent academic sessions being affected.

Thousands of students who live in university hostels may also be forced to evacuate if the strike prolongs.

UASU Secretary-General Dr Constantine Wasonga said lecturers had commenced the nationwide strike after the union exhausted avenues for negotiations over the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

In a statement issued on Friday, the union said academic staff had officially commenced a nationwide strike in all of Kenya’s public universities.

The union said the dispute followed the failure to conclude the 2025–2029 CBA despite a Return-to-Work Formula signed with the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum on November 5, 2025.

Under the agreement, the parties had committed to concluding the CBA before the end of 2025.

Under the proposal, UASU seeks an average six per cent annual salary increment during the four-year agreement running from July 2025 to June 2029.

Under the proposed structure, the highest salary notch for professors would rise from the current Sh345, 816 to more than Sh580,144 a month by 2028/29, while senior lecturers could earn Sh399,644 from the current Sh238,221.

The union is also seeking higher housing allowances, with professors proposed to receive Sh116,028 a month from the current ShSh73,715, associate professors Sh104,426 from the current Sh66,344, senior lecturers Sh92,822 (from Sh58,972) and lecturers Sh87,020 (from Sh55,286).

The unions are also demanding the Government to provide a plan for recruiting an additional 25,000 lecturers to address staffing shortages in public universities.

He added that the unions also wanted to negotiate workloads, staff promotions and working conditions, arguing that the dispute went beyond salary increments.

“We also want the Government to tell us how we are going to recruit an additional 25,000 lecturers. We want to negotiate the workload so that our lecturers are not overworked,” he said.

Wasonga further called for the formation of a commission or task force to examine the financial challenges facing public universities and recommend long-term solutions.

“Form a commission or a task force to come up with the recommendations to solve this perennial problem in higher education. It is bigger than the strike,” he said.

Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) Secretary-General Charles Mukhwaya said the Government was undermining collective bargaining by presenting figures determined before negotiations with the unions.

He cited Article 41(5) of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of employers and trade unions to engage in collective bargaining, and insisted that the parties must negotiate directly.

“We have therefore not negotiated; we have not agreed on anything, and yet the Government today has come with a lower counter-offer, which is making us say we are negotiating in bad faith,” Mukhwaya said.

Genga added that public universities should be funded through the National Exchequer, warning that inadequate funding was undermining their ability to provide quality education.