Do whatever it takes to avert lecturers' strike

Kenya University Staff Union Secretary General Mr Charles Mukhwaya (center) with KUSU governing council members addressing journalists in Nakuru on July 1, 2017. The university lecturers and workers gave the government 48 hours ultimatum to implement the 2013–2017 Sh10 billion Collective Bargaining Agreement signed during negotiations, failure to which they will go on strike. The pay increase negotiated was supposed to cover basic salary, house allowance of all public servants represented by the Unions. Photo/Suleiman Mbatiah/Standard

A nationwide strike by university academic staff and lecturers that starts today flies in the face of Government assurances that it is committed to guaranteeing the welfare of workers. Whereas the Kenyan doctors finally reached an agreement with county governments on the vexatious issue of better pay and working conditions, nurses, sadly, are still on strike, now joined by lecturers.

The trigger of the strikes is Government’s lack of commitment to Comprehensive Bargaining Agreements entered into by both parties on diverse dates.

Lecturers in Kenya have staged strikes severally over poor pay. Notably, they went on strike in 2003, 2004, 2012 and 2014. Why the Government does not commit to address their long-standing grievances is anybody’s guess, but a time has come when this grandstanding must come to an end.

In a charged political environment, university students could, as they did last year, take to the streets demanding value for their fees. That is a situation we must avoid at all costs.

Too many strikes impact negatively on the quality of education in our institutions of higher learning, especially when students are left to their own devices. Government must not be seen to be at fault for occasioning industrial strikes by reneging on binding agreements.

The Salaries and Remuneration Commission needs to lend its voice and stop acting like a spectator.