Universities Academics Staff Union national secretary-general Constantine Wasonga (centre) and other union officials address the press at Egerton University, Njoro Campus, on October 17, 2022. Dr Constantine Wasonga has asked members to stay out of lecture halls until they get their salaries.
National examinations scheduled during the third term risk disruption after teachers and lecturers set in motion preparations for strikes over pay when schools and universities open at the end of the month and early September.
Candidates sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams in October will be among the heaviest casualties as revision classes will be disrupted should the government and teachers fail to reach a deal to avert the strike.
The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) is the latest to issue a strike notice in protest over delays and non-payment of staff salaries, calling its members to a nationwide strike when the academic calendar for universities begins in September.
The notice was issued Wednesday after a meeting of the national executive committee of the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu).
The secretary-general of the union Dr Constantine Wasonga said that public universities continuously delay lecturers’ pay and when they pay, it is not in full. He added that universities also do not remit of bank loans, pensions, and other third party deductions despite deducting the same from lecturers’ pay.
The strike threat comes just a week after the two main teachers’ unions, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) announced that they will down tools beginning August 26 2024 when schools are scheduled to open for Third Term.
Kuppet on Monday registered a labour dispute with the cabinet secretary for Labour Alfred Mutua saying it has been unable to amicably address its grievances with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). Knut registered their dispute on Wednesday despite having held discussions with Dr Mutua on Tuesday.
The teachers’ unions have demanded payment of the second phase of the 2021 – 2025 collective bargaining agreement, conversion of all 46,000 teachers on contract and promotion of 130,000 teachers, among other issues.
The strike threats present the new cabinet secretary for Education Julius Migos Ogamba with baptism of fire. A teachers’ strike in Third Term would interrupt the preparation and administration of national examinations and assessments.
Public universities have been struggling to stay afloat but they continue to accumulate debts which now stand at a total of Sh84 billion. The capitation that they receive from the government has been reduced and the funding model introduced last year still faces challenges.
“It is very insensitive and inconsiderate for the government to delay the payment of salaries for academic staff in public universities every month. This has brought disrespect and embarrassment to our members for too long,” Dr Wasonga said.
He singled out Technical University Kenya (TUK) which he claimed paid 65 per cent of the lecturers’ net pay for July.
“TUK has crossed the red line. I call upon our members at TUK to come out and strike. Don’t get used to 65 per cent pay because you didn’t offer your services at 65 per cent. Other workers in the public secretive their salaries in full. From September, there’ll be no university education because the government isn’t serious about education,” Dr Wasonga said.
He accused vice chancellors of not telling President William Ruto the truth about the funding model that was introduced last year. The model has received mixed reactions from various stakeholders.
“The new funding model isnt working and the VCs have been lying to the President. When with the president, they say it’s working but when they come back to us, they say there’s no money. Which Kenyan proposed this university funding model to the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms? Kenyans proposed increased funding for the differentiated unit cost but the government has been consistently reducing capitation for continuing students,” said Dr Wasonga.
“We’ll engage them (lecturers) and we’re very responsive to their needs,” said Dr Beatrice Inyangala, the principal secretary for Higher Education.
Meanwhile, lecturers at Moi University have not received July salary. Yesterday, workers and union officials from the university held a demonstration in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu County to demand payment for contract and casuals workers who they claimed have not been paid for the last eight months.
The unionists who are members of Uasu, the Kenya University Staff Union (Kusu) and the Kenya Union of Domestic Hotels Educational Institutions Hospitals and Allied Workers (Kudehiha) warned of shutdown activities at the institution to demand for immediate release of their dues.
They claimed that some staff who have defaulted on loans from financial institutions after the management failed to remit deductions may have their property auctioned.
About 124 members of Kusu have been sued by banks and microfinance institutions over failure to service the loans amounting to millions of shillings through the check-off systems.
Some of the suits have been filed in the Small Claims Courts in Eldoret Law Courts while other members have received demand notices to either repay the loans or have their property auctioned to recover the money.
“My employer has been deducting the money from my salary through check-off but not remitting the same to the claimant and as such, the claimant is out to make a claim against the third party,” argued one staff member.
The university issued a memo last year on staff redundancy in a move aimed at aligning the human resources to the existing workload. It has in the past admitted that its debt has accrued to more than Sh5 billion.
Student enrolment has reduced from 50,000 in 2015 to 27,000 in 2021 while non-viable campuses have been closed.
