Kenya’s higher education system is in turmoil as university lecturers continue their strike, ignoring Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba’s directive to return to work. The strike, now in its second week, has thrown the academic calendar into disarray and left thousands of students in limbo.
On Wednesday, University Academic Staff Union (UASU) Nairobi Chapter chairperson Dr. Maloba Wekesa and Kenya Universities Staff Union (KUSU) Secretary General Dr. Charles Mukhwaya dismissed Ogamba’s warning as hollow. Appearing on Citizen TV, they accused the government of dishonesty and neglect.
“Ogamba has barely been in office for a year, yet he thinks he can order us around. These issues have been piling up for over a decade,” said Dr. Wekesa. “The government still owes lecturers Ksh7.9 billion from past CBAs. Paying Ksh2.5 billion is welcome, but it’s just a fraction. That does not solve the problem.”
He went further, ridiculing the CS’s approach: “We have lecture halls, not classrooms. If he insists learning must go on, perhaps he should step into those halls himself.”
Dr. Mukhwaya was equally blunt, accusing both the Ministry of Education and university councils of betrayal. “For over seven years, the government has failed to honour agreements it signed. That kind of neglect crushes morale and pushes lecturers to the wall,” he said.
The lecturers’ strike began on September 11 after yet another failure to settle arrears under the 2017 and 2021 collective bargaining agreements. Despite a court order suspending the strike on September 18, lecturers insist that no real negotiations have taken place.
CS Ogamba, however, maintains that the strike is unlawful. Speaking in Mombasa on Tuesday, he warned that lecturers risk contempt of court and disciplinary action if they do not return to work. “Court orders are not suggestions they must be obeyed,” he said.
But the unions remain unmoved, insisting that the government is dragging its feet while lecturers struggle with years of broken promises.
Meanwhile, students remain the biggest casualties trapped in uncertainty, their semesters at risk of collapse, with no clarity on when normal learning will resume.
