Students sent home as tutors reject pay offer

One university was closed on Friday and another suspended its activities as the twin strikes in the education sector threatened to disrupt academic programmes countrywide.

Some secondary schools, which found the going tough after teachers refused to call off their strike, also closed on Friday.

Egerton University suspended the registration of First Year students, which had been going on since last week, and ordered all continuing students to go home.

“Following the lecturer’s strike, all students are required to vacate the campus premises by 9am until further notice,” said a statement signed by Egerton University deputy vice-chancellor, Prof Rose Mwonya.

At the University of Nairobi’s Main Campus, the library, computer labs, lecture halls, canteens and bookshop remained closed with students complaining that they were being denied services.

At Lower Kabete Campus, exams were for Second Year commerce students were disrupted after striking non-teaching staff took away the papers. The Students Organisation of Nairobi University gave the government 48 hours to call union officials to the negotiating table failure to which they would demand an explanation.

At Narok University College, Principal David Serem announced all operations at the institution had been suspended until further notice as the lecturers’ strike entered its second day on Friday.

“We have postponed the opening of the college, teaching, and operations until the strike is over,” Prof Serem said.

Laikipia University College, which operates two campuses in Nyahururu, was not spared as lecturers downed their tools.

The situation appeared to get worse after Finance minister Njeru Githae insisted there was no money to increase teachers and lecturers’ salaries. Mr Githae said funds to increase salaries for striking workers were not factored in the Budget.

“There is no money to give the teachers and university dons. All the money now being collected is going to the recurrent expenditure,” he told journalists in Kirinyaga County.

Talks between teachers and the government collapsed after officials of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) walked out of the negotiations.

Knut chairman Wilson Sossion said the government negotiating team had only proposed to increase hardship and special duty allowances as demanded, “which we refused”.

The minister said the government could not borrow money to pay the teachers and lecturers. “As the Finance minister, I will not recommend to the government to borrow funds from donors to meet the striking workers’ demands,” he stated.

He spoke as lecturers rejected the government proposal to raise their salaries by between Sh200 and Sh825 monthly. In letter addressed to the lecturers by the Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF), the government noted that the proposal was its counter-offer.

“The basic monthly salaries shall be increased to the respective ranks of the academic staff members of the public universities at the rate of 0.5 per cent.

“House allowance shall be increased to the respective ranks of the academic staff of the public universities at the rate of zero per cent,” the letter signed by IPUCCF chairman Peter Mbithi said.

But Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) secretary general Muga K’Olale termed the offer an insult and a mockery.

“Common sense dictates that you cannot offer employees 0.5 per cent and zero per cent for house allowance. This is gross injustice and unfairness of the highest order,” he said.

He noted they would only call off the strike if the government placed on the table “serious offers.”

The union is demanding that a professor’s salary should be increased to a maximum of Sh400,000, up from the current 165,000 a month, and a new house allowance of Sh95,000 up from Sh64,000. In their demands, an associate professor’s salary should rise to Sh298,000, from Sh135,000 and a house allowance of Sh85,000.

The union wants a senior lecturer to earn Sh221,000 and a house allowance of Sh75,000, lecturer Sh165,000 and a house allowance of Sh70,000 and an assistant lecturer Sh121,000 plus Sh55,000 for housing.

Meanwhile, some public boarding schools have started closing following the teachers’ boycott. Nyahururu Boys and Ndururumo high schools closed the institutions citing intimidation by striking teachers.  

At the same time, the parliamentary Committee on Education has summoned four ministers, Attorney General Githu Muigai and Knut officials to a crisis meeting next week to help resolve the teachers and lecturers’ strike.
Committee chairman David Koech said the team had called Mr Mutula Kilonzo (Education), Prof Margaret Kamar (Higher education), Mr John Munyes (Labour) and Mr Njeru Githae (Finance) to appear before the MPs on Tuesday morning to come up with a return-to-work formula for the striking tutors.

Reported by Benjamin Muindi, Eddy Ngeta, George Sayagie,  James Kariuki, James Ngunjiri, Rececca Okwany, Samuel Koech, Wycliff Kipsang and Raphael Wanjala