Inside intense talks that unlocked Sh20bn deal to end lecturers’ strike
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Universities Academic Staff Union lecturers and staff participating in a demonstration outside Parliament Buildings in Nairobi on October 15, 2026 protesting over the Government's failure to implement the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Union officials had to climb down from their initial demands, which the government said would cost taxpayers Sh98 billion.
Earlier in the day, the government side had met to find ways of unlocking the stalemate that was threatening to get out of hand.
It took three hours of intense bargaining, revised financial offers and direct intervention by two Cabinet secretaries and a principal secretary to unlock a Sh20 billion deal that could finally bring weeks of disruption in public universities to an end.
Behind the breakthrough was a tense negotiating session in a Nairobi hotel on Wednesday, where the government raised its offer from Sh12 billion to Sh14 billion then Sh16 billion before eventually agreeing to Sh20 billion. Union officials also had to climb down from their initial demands, which the government said would cost taxpayers Sh98 billion.
