Learning and research across over 35 public universities remain grounded as university staff unions rejected a KSh 12 billion counteroffer from the national government, deepening the higher education crisis.
The joint decision by the Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) and the Kenya University Staff Union (KUSU) followed a breakdown in conciliation talks with state negotiators led by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba and National Treasury officials.
Addressing the media following the collapse of negotiations, UASU Secretary-General Dr. Constantine Wasonga dismissed the KSh 12 billion allocation, stating that it fell far short of satisfying the terms outlined in the 2025–2029 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
“The counteroffer from the government is awfully inadequate, and we have rejected it in total,” Dr. Wasonga declared. “The government has failed to present a structured financial counter-proposal that addresses our core demands. We will not return to work until the return-to-work formula and funding assurances are fully satisfied.”
While Education CS Julius Ogamba appealed to the striking staff to return to lecture halls—noting that the government had already cleared prior arrears from the 2017–2021 and 2021–2025 CBA cycles—the unions insisted that basic salary adjustments, remitted statutory deductions, and chronic institutional underfunding remain unresolved.
The ongoing deadlock leaves hundreds of thousands of students stranded across public campuses nationwide as both parties remain at a stalemate.