Learning and administrative operations across all Kenyan public universities have ground to a halt today, October 2, after public university lecturers and staff commenced a nationwide strike following the collapse of conciliation talks with government representatives.
The industrial action, spearheaded by the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU), comes at the expiration of a mandatory seven-day strike notice issued on September 24. Addressing union members at UASU headquarters in Nairobi, Secretary-General Dr. Constantine Wasonga announced that academic staff would withhold labor until the government fully implements the agreed 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and addresses chronic underfunding across higher learning institutions.
“Universities are technically insolvent because the government has not been remitting money due to them,” Dr. Wasonga stated during the strike declaration. “We have rejected the proposed 4 percent increment as a mockery. We are not going to budge until the return-to-work formula and funding assurances are fully satisfied.”
The talks collapsed after union representatives rejected an annual 4 percent salary increment proposal put forward by the Inter-Public University Councils Consultative Forum (IPUCCF). Unions accused the Ministry of Education, university councils, and the National Treasury of failing to honor commitments established in the Return-to-Work Formula signed on November 5, 2025, while pointing out that delayed exchequer releases have severely impaired university operations and health insurance provisions.
The strike affects over 35 public universities and constituent colleges across the country, stranding thousands of students midway through the first academic term. Student governing bodies have called on the National Treasury and the Ministry of Education to engage in good-faith negotiations to resolve the dispute and prevent prolonged disruption to university calendars.