Lecturers to down tools starting January 20
Universities Academic Staff Union Secretary General Constantine Wasonga (left), Chairman Muga K'olale and National Vice Chairman Joseph Mberia at a press briefing on January 9, 2019. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- They say government failed to honour a pay deal signed on October 28 last year.
Kenyan lecturers have announced that they will not step into university classrooms from January 20, even as the country gears up for the start of a fresh academic calendar.
Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) Secretary-General Constantine Wasonga said Thursday that lecturers will go on strike after the government failed to honour a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed on October 28 last year.
The move is bound to paralyse learning in about 35 public institutions.
Dr Wasonga said that as a result of the calculation after the last negotiations with government, the figure owed stood at Sh13.8 billion without pension.
However, the university dons on Thursday said they were ready to take Sh8.8 billion for 2017-2021 CBA to avert the industrial action.
"It appears the government has diverted the money and that is why we are being treated to double speak by SRC and the Ministry of Education," said Dr Wasonga, who was accompanied by other union officials during a press conference in Nairobi.
Dr Wasonga said that even though the union had demanded more, it would accept Sh8.8 billion due to the hard economic times in the country.
