Moi University pays staff Sh113m in salary arrears to avert strike
Striking Moi University UASU members at the institution on November 8, 2024.
What you need to know:
- University management paid the Sh113 million salary arrears for October, November, and December on Tuesday evening.
- However, the unions are pushing for the implementation of the remaining 24 clauses in the return-to-work agreement.
The management of Moi University has released Sh113 million salary arrears as part of the return-to-work formula to avert the resumption of strike action by the teaching and non-teaching staff.
The workers had threatened to down tools again over the contentious Sh8.6 billion debt in salary and statutory deduction.
It has further paid December salaries in full, a day after the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) and the Kenya University Staff Union (Kusu) announced the resumption of a workers' strike, accusing the management of flouting the return-to-work agreement.
The management paid the Sh113 million salary arrears for October, November, and December on Tuesday evening, and cleared the December salaries in full on Wednesday as per the 2021/2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
“I can confirm that the salary arrears for the three months have been wired to the workers’ accounts while the December salaries have been paid in full, which is a relief to our members,” Mr Nyabuta Ojuki, the Uasu Chapter Secretary told the Nation.
However, the unions are pushing for the implementation of the remaining 24 clauses in the return-to-work agreement signed in November 2024, which ended the more than three-month strike that had disrupted learning at the university.
“What the union now wants is the implementation of enhanced salary rate under the 2021/2025 deal,” added Mr Ojuki.
Under the return-to-work deal signed in November and presided over by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogemba and Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala, the unions secured Sh2.6 billion in terms of cash and assets with the immediate release of Sh500 million.
Moi University Vice-Chancellor Isaac Kosgey and Council Chairman Humphrey Njuguna led the university management in signing the deal.
The union was allocated Sh7.7 billion under the 2021/2027 CBA to be implemented in two phases of Sh4.3 billion and Sh5.2 billion in the 2025/2026 and 2027/2027 financial years.
President William Ruto has promised to constitute a committee to evaluate the scale of challenges facing Moi University and recommend long-lasting solutions.
He disclosed plans to overhaul the management and allocate adequate resources to salvage the financially troubled institution.
“We will put in place an efficient management team and allocate sufficient resources so that Moi University can thrive like other public universities,” said President Ruto last Friday during a tour of his home tuff of Uasin Gishu County.
The Ethic and Ant-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are probing financial and managerial mismanagement at the cash-strapped institution.
