Talks between government officials and staff at Moi University that went late into the night on Wednesday failed to unlock a stalemate to reopen the troubled university.
On Thursday, the parties to the dispute issued conflicting statements regarding the issue. The Cabinet Secretary for Education Julius Ogamba acknowledged the long-drawn talks but said the university would reopen.
A few hours later in Nairobi, the vice chancellor of the university Prof Isaac Kosgey addressed a press conference and announced that the university would be reopened on Tuesday November 12 2024. He said that the university has given the union a matrix on how their arrears will be settled.
However, in Eldoret, union officials rejected the proposal and told Nation that their members would continue with the industrial action and boycott, as no deal had been struck.
Nation.Africa has established that a team from the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection failed to unlock the stalemate between the university's management board and the striking academic and non-academic staff through their unions.
Nation.Africa would later learn that the university management was under pressure to reopen the institution on Friday, regardless of the unions’ stance.
"As we speak Moi University has agreed to reopen because we have been negotiating with the team up to Wednesday at 2.00 am. So students are going back to class. We want to make the education sector hygienic. We don't want our teachers and professors in the streets. They should be in class teaching our students,” Mr Ogamba said.
The University Academic Staff Union (Uasu), Kenya University Staff Union (Kusu), and Kenya Union of Domestic Hotels Educational Institutions Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudheiha) have accused the university management of failing to table ‘meaningful proposals’ on how to settle the huge debts owed to their members.
Following the stalemate, the matter was escalated to an inter-ministerial committee consisting of the National Treasury, the Ministry of Education and that of Labour and Social Protection. It was formed by the principal secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection Joseph Motari.
“We registered a disagreement with the proposals by the management board and the dispute will have to be escalated to another level. The Senate decided to close the university, and it is their right to order for its reopening, but our members are not ready to resume offering services until their issues are resolved,” said Uasu chapter secretary, Nyabuta Ojuki.
The union claims the staff are owed over Sh10 billion in salary and statutory deduction arrears. They rejected a proposal by the university to settle the arrears in three phases and vowed not to resume duty.
“We have not entered into any meaningful arrangement with the university management over plans to resume the learning process after it failed to table a clear framework on how to address monetary and welfare issues troubling our members,” explained Mr Ojuki.
“The monetary element remains a contentious issue and, unfortunately, the management has not come out clear on how the payment will be done under the proposed three phases,” he stated.
The principal secretary for Higher Education, Beatrice Inyangala on Sunday announced that students will be reporting back to the institution. In an X post, she shared a schedule of activities leading to the reopening of the university.
Other grievances raised by the university workers include implementation of the 2017 - 2021 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and favourable working conditions. Mr Ojuki said the collapse of the talks coincides with the ongoing national strike by Uasu members on pay dispute.
“How do they expect our members to report for duty while some of them are to appear in court after they were sued for defaulting in servicing their bank loans?” posed Mr Ojuki.
The university was closed down last month following a long strike by teaching and non-teaching staff. Some members of the union members have been sued by financial institutions and microfinance firms over failure to service loans amounting to millions of shillings through the check-off system.
The suits have been filed in the Small Claims Courts in Eldoret Law Courts and the unions want the university to take responsibility for failing to remit deductions to service the loans.
The university management board had proposed to settle the worker's dues and unremitted statutory deductions in three phases but did not stipulate the timelines.
“All that we need is a clear commitment by the management on how it will settle the arrears. Some of our members who took bank loans have been sued for defaulting to repay the money and the management needs to take responsibility,” said Bob Odhiambo Ng’ura the Kusu Moi University branch chair.
Mr Ogamba has in the past confirmed that the university was grappling with significant financial issues, including certified outstanding debts of Sh8 billion.
The National Treasury has committed to release Sh2.9 billion to salvage the financially troubled university. According to the National Assembly Committee on Education, the National Treasury released Sh609 million last month to support the university meet its financial obligations.
The chair of the committee Julius Melly said the Treasury is to release an additional 500 million this month to help stabilise operations at the university.
The Public Investments Committee on Education has petitioned the Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu to carry out a forensic audit of the university’s books of accounts.
The committee chaired by Bumula MP Jack Wamboka has further recommended the suspension of all projects at the university and the hiring of new staff until the audit is concluded.
Among financial irregularities under probe at the university include failure to remit Sh4 billion in payroll deductions, defaulted on a Sh3 billion loan owed to Rivatex East Africa Limited, and accumulated Sh1.1 billion in unpaid bills as of June 2020.
