Being a student at a public university is one of the hustles students get due to the frequent lecturers strike. Many students seek to finish schooling by the end of the upcoming semester but lecturers seem to shut their dreams. The lecturers vowed not to report to work if their pay does not hit their accounts by 6th of January.
“If the new pay does not hit our bank accounts by January 6, we shall call all our more than 9000 lecturers and 27000 staff workers out for a strike which will go on until the matter is sorted out to our satisfaction,” said Dr Constantine Wesonga, the secretary-general of the University Academic Staff Union (UASU).
THE DEAL
According to Dr Wesonga, the agreed total cost of the 2017-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement is Sh13.8billion and not Sh8.8billion as declared by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC). He added that they are giving the government time to put the act together and that their national delegates gave them a go-ahead for the strike if the dispute is not sorted out.
The secretary general’s statement is a complete contradiction of what the current vice chancellor for University of Nairobi, Isaac Mbeche, said. Mr Mbeche last week said that the lecturers had agreed to take the SH8.8 billion instead of the Sh13.8 billion they had negotiated for. Dr Wesonga has however dismissed the deal saying it is fraught with errors because a private university has benefited from the pact.