Kenyan varsities shut as union says it won't budge

Two public universities were shut on Friday as the impact of the lecturers’ strike began to sink in.

Learning and examinations remained paralysed in all public universities and their constituent colleges.

A University of Nairobi student was attacked and injured during a demonstration in the city. (READ: Student leader injured in knife attack)

Officials of the University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) said they were worried about their security, claiming they were being followed by strangers and their phones were being tapped.

These were the highlights of the university crisis as the strike by lecturers and non-teaching staff entered the third day on Friday. Egerton University in Njoro and Masinde Muliro University in Kakamega were closed after the lecturers’ defied calls to return to class.

Masinde Muliro students had started exams before the strike, but the remain ing papers will be taken when they reopen.

The strike started on Wednesday and has paralysed learning in all the seven public universities and 15 constituent colleges affecting about 180,000 students.

The lecturers’ defied calls by Prime Minister Raila Odinga to resume work after negotiations with the lecturers collapsed on Thursday evening.

The prime minister had spearheaded the talks. (READ: Kenyan varsities may close as strike talks collapse)

Egerton University’s Senate closed the university at 10am and ordered the students to leave all the campuses by 3 pm.

“The senate has determined that the situation may persist for some time. It has, therefore, been decided that the university be closed until further notice,” the senate said in a notice.

The students, who were due to start exams on December 5, left immediately. Students union chairman Cosmas Koech, said the closure was unfortunate as it could disrupt the graduation scheduled later this month.

Before the university was closed, vice-chancellor James Tuitoek, had in a circular asked the lecturers and non-teaching staff to resume work or be disciplined.

At Masinde Muliro, the senate asked students to leave by 5pm in a notice, signed by deputy vice-chancellor in charge of administration Sibilike Makhanu.

“We cannot go on under the prevailing circumstances which are not conducive to normal academic work,” said Prof Makhanu.

Uasu national chairman Sammy Kubasu described the closures as “escapist and failure to face reality.”

“Closing the universities will not solve the problem. The lecturers will continue to ask for their pay increase when the universities reopen, so it’s short-term and defeatist,” he said.
Union secretary-general Muga K’Olale, said unidentified people had tapped the phones of union officials. However, he said they were reluctant to report to the police because they suspected they could be part of those trailing them.

At Kenyatta University, lecturers held a peaceful demonstration on campus, condemning the government for failing to negotiate with the union.

“The government’s hard stance will only worsen the situation, and it’s the students who will suffer,” said the Uasu chapter secretary-general Richard Wafula.

But vice chancellor Olive Mugenda, ruled out closing the campus as yet, saying the senate had allowed the students to study on their own to prepare for exams.

“We met the union officials and asked them to allow some workers to provide essential services to the university. We want to make sure the hostels are cleaned and the library opened,” said Prof Mugenda.

Kenyatta University Students Association chairman Anthony Akoto said the strike had hurt the students. In Eldoret, Chepkoilel University College suspended examinations indefinitely.

“Members of the academic board are meeting daily and we shall review the examination issue on Monday,” said principal Elijah Biamah.

He said the examinations started on Monday but on Tuesday morning they used deans and head of departments to administer them but in the afternoon, this was not possible.

Moi University Uasu chapter secretary-general Osumba Ogeta, said the disruption of exams will affect marking. Maseno University students said they would leave campus because the living conditions were bad.

Their hostels and toilets had not been cleaned, while dinning halls and libraries were closed, making life unbearable. But the director of public relations Owen MakOnyango, said there was no plan to send students home.

“We don’t want to interrupt the semester especially since we are running a double intake, so we don’t want to close the university,” he said.

At Mombasa Polytechnic University College, more than 700 lecturers and staff vowed to remain on strike until the government resolved the problem.

At the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Juja, security guards supervised the exams. But Uasu chapter chairman Moses Muchina said the lecturers will not recognise those exams.

The striking workers stormed one of the exam rooms and ejected lecturers who had gone to supervise exams terming them traitors. Police were monitoring the situation from within the compound but did not interfere with the workers.

University of Nairobi students held a peaceful demonstration in the city centre to protest the attack of their student leader and also to push the Government and the lecturers to negotiate and end the impasse.

Reported By Benson Amadala, Dennis Odunga, Valentine Obara, Noah Cheploen, Beryl Wambani, Timothy Kemei, Anthony Kitimo, Oliver Musembi