Stalemate persists as lectures insist they’re owed Ksh.7.9B, but Gov’t says Ksh.624M

Resolution of the ongoing lecturers’ strike appears to be slipping further away, after Education Cabinet Secretary Migos Ogamba said the lecturers were owed Ksh.624 million and not the Ksh.7.9 billion they claimed was due.

CS Ogamba said the striking dons should engage the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) to arrive at the figure the government is supposed to pay.

The lecturers, in a heated rejoinder, said they will not budge, emphasising that they would be unyielding in their demands and brushing off the Education CS.

The disagreement is over how much the government still owes lecturers from the 2017–2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

The ministry says SRC has advised that most of the money demanded has already been paid, but lecturers reject the ministry’s position that only Ksh.624 million remains unsettled. They maintain the outstanding amount stands at a staggering Ksh.7.9 billion.

“With regard to the CBA… the amounts have been substantially settled,” said Ogamba.

Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) Secretary General Constantine Wasonga on his part said: “SRC, having known that they are wrong, have refused to have a joint verification team. We want them to come sit with us and show us how they arrived at Ksh.624 million.”

The ministry maintains that most of the obligations were cleared in three tranches including Ksh.4.3 billion disbursed for the period October 2024 to June 2025, Ksh.2.73 billion allocated in the 2025/2026 financial year and another Ksh.2.73 billion planned for 2026/2027, to be paid as scheduled in the coming year.

“SRC is saying that automatically on increment it has been settled. I want to ask them slowly, when was the CBA implemented? I have the data, and what I want to be shown is the payslip and the evidence. Show us: we transmitted this and this to this bank. Don’t come up with cooked figures,” Wesonga added.

UASU Chairperson Grace Nyongesa on her part noted: “The court decision is there and it cannot be disputed. It is very clear.”

The dons say the new developments informed by the government’s latest position are unlikely to unlock the deadlock and have them return to class.

“We have the labour, they have the money. Why do you think they fear a verification team? It is because they fear,” stated Wesonga.

The strike has disrupted learning in public universities, leaving thousands of students stranded and threatening to join the strike if the impasse persists.

Lecturers are not only demanding the immediate settlement of the alleged Ksh.7.9 billion arrears, but are also pushing for the opening of fresh negotiations on the 2025–2029 CBA.

As the back-and-forth continues, many ask: how did our so-called centres of excellence turn into theatres of industrial warfare? What is the fate of learners who bear the brunt of unending disputes they have no hand in? And most importantly, what do employers both locally and globally think about the quality of graduates from such a broken system?