Why lecturers are demanding Sh7.9 billion

UASU secretary general, Constantine Wasonga (centre) flanked by members of the union address the press in Machakos on October 24,2025.[Erastus Mulwa/Standard]

The Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) has demanded the immediate release of Sh7.9 billion owed to its members.

This follows the adaptation of a report confirming the amount as the authentic arrears arising from the 2017-21 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Speaking on Friday at Machakos University after a day-long Inter-Public Universities Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF) consultative forum whose report was adopted and presented to the technical committee on the implementation of the CBA, UASU secretary general, Constantine Wasonga, said the union has been vindicated on its position on the disputed figure.

Wasonga noted that the report, adopted and signed by top university and government officials, had fully eliminated the controversy around the actual figure, and which has been a bone of contention between the university dons and the government.

“The union therefore urges IPUCCF, the government through the Ministry of Education and the National Treasury to immediately release the Sh7.9 billion to our members in compliance with the court judgment and registered CBAs,” he said.

SRC on the spot

Wasonga accused the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) of misleading the State on the dispute.

“SRC has continued to produce misleading figures such as Sh624 million which were not only wrong but also misleading to the Ministry of Education and Treasury, thereby destabilising the higher education sector, inflicting significant hardship on staff and students,” he said.

The report, endorsed by the Chairperson of the Vice-Chancellors Committee, Daniel Mugendi, and Co-Chairperson of IPUCCF JNC, Fred Barasa, affirmed that the Employment and Labour Relations Court judgment of January 15, 2021, set the total financial obligation under the CBAs at Sh16.57 billion, inclusive of salary arrears and pension liabilities. The figure was later upheld by the Court of Appeal in March 2025.