Varsity staff to down tools today over Sh7.8b pay deal

Uasu Secretary General Muga K’Olale addresses Uasu and Kusu members in Nairobi, Monday. [PHOTO: BEVERLYNE MUSILI/STANDARD]

By RAWLINGS OTIENO                

NAIROBI, KENYA: University lecturers and non-teaching staff are set to go on strike starting Tuesday midnight unless the Government seals a deal over money owed to them.

If no deal is in sight, learning will be paralysed across all public universities starting tomorrow. 

Academic and the non-teaching staff in universities vowed to boycott their duties if the State fails to intervene in the row pitting union officials against varsities’ vice-chancellors.

Kenya University Staff Union (Kusu) and University Academic Staff Union (Uasu) said they have been left with no option other than to boycott their duties over what they termed as misappropriation of funds by the vice chancellors.

Should the unions make good their threat, university students who solely depend on the services of the academic staff and the non-teaching staff will be forced to go for indefinite leave.

Kusu Secretary General Charles Mukhwaya accused vice-chancellors of embezzling money meant for harmonisation of basic salaries and allowances for the university staff.

“We have consistently said that the money was misappropriated by the university chiefs. We have presented documents and by their own admission that they are returning the money to treasury, means we have been saying the truth,” said Mukhwaya.

Speaking to the Press after addressing varsity staff of both Technical University of Kenya and the University of Nairobi, officials said they will not return to work unless the Sh7.8 billion they negotiated for is paid to their accounts in full.

Mukhwaya said they took the decision after the Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi failed to offer a lasting solution to the grievance.

“The Education CS called us for a meeting on Saturday and we went thinking that he would offer a solution, and instead he was asking us for a solution. We want to tell him that the solution is to pay what is due to the members; the money we negotiated for,” vowed Mukhwaya.

His sentiments were echoed by his Uasu counterpart Muga K’olale who challenged VCs to admit that they misused the money meant to pay workers. The two unions allege the VCs used the money to bridge the capitation and paid themselves over Sh4 million.