The University of Nairobi has instructed lecturers to report back to work on Monday, October 6, as the nation was still reeling from the nation-wide lecturers’ strike.
In a statement signed by Prof. Ayub Gitau, the Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, the university indicated that the ongoing strike remains ungazetted following a court order issued by the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) on September 19, 2025.
The court halted the strike by the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU), the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU), and the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA) and directed both parties to engage in conciliation talks.
“All students must report to class without fail, and academic and administrative staff must carry out their duties according to programmed,” Prof. Gitau stated in the notice.
Ever since nearly three weeks ago, lecturers from the universities have not been available in the lecture halls, demanding that their Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) be fully implemented by the government.
The unions claim the state still owes them Ksh 7.9 billion from the 2021 CBA something disputed by Education Cabinet Secretary Migos Ogamba, who insists the remaining figure stands at Ksh 624 million.
As Ogamba writes, the government has paid nearly all its debt in three installments Ksh 4.3 billion disbursed between October 2024 and June 2025, Ksh 2.73 billion spent in the 2025/2026 budget, and another Ksh 2.73 billion included in the budget for 2026/2027.
But UASU leaders have dismissed the CS’s explanation, saying the sums distributed do not represent what has been distributed by lecturers.
“SRC is saying the increment has been paid. I would like to ask them when was the CBA implemented? I have the numbers. Show us the payslips and the evidence. Don’t give us cooked numbers,” UASU Secretary General Constantine Wasonga bluntly announced.
He also charged the government with avoiding transparency: “We have the labour; they have the money. Why do you think they fear a verification team? It’s because they fear the truth.”
The impasse now leaves thousands of university students in suspense over when normal learning will resume, even as the conciliation process ordered by the court gets underway.
